Snippet Saturday

Today I'm at Passion & Prose. I'm doing one of my favorite things – hanging out with readers and other authors. I'll check back tomorrow with an update on the event. Until then, today is an "author's choice" day in snippet land. I thought it might be fun to post the first few paragraphs of each of my 2012 Intrigues. Here you go…

WHEN SHE WASN'T LOOKING(May 2012)

Jonas Porter yawned as he marched up the front porch steps to the craftsman-style bungalow in the middle of nowhere. At ten in the morning he'd been on shift for more than sixteen straight hours thanks to the Webber kid taking his neighbor's car for a joyride that ended with a big splash into the Siuslaw River.

When he took the law enforcement position, Jonas had been promised relative peace and quiet by the county sheriff and Jonas' long-time mentor, Walt Roberts. Since Jonas needed a break and crime didn't run rampant in Aberdeen, the small Oregon town where the river dumped into the Pacific Ocean, the job looked like the perfect solution. If a drunk pre-teen with a lack of common sense turned out to be the biggest problem, Jonas could live with that.



Agreeing to handle one small task on his way back to his place to pass out was probably not his brightest move. He needed sleep, but this should easy. In and out and then he could slip into bed for a few hours.

He knocked on the dark red door. The rock beat thumping inside and shaking the walls cut off. He double-checked the house number to make sure he was at the right place. He expected an older lady, a grandmother type. He guessed this one liked her music loud, which blew his older-woman stereotype apart.

In the resulting silence he waited for someone to open up. When no one did, he raised his hand to try again and nearly punched the woman who threw the door open.

COPY THAT (August 2012)

Meredith Samms heard the front door slam. Not hers. This one belonged to the bottom floor apartment.

She rented the small one-bedroom tucked into the eves of the blue craftsman-styled house. Her place stretched all of five hundred-fifty square feet from one end to the other. Still, she paid more per month for the tiny space than her parents paid in mortgage for a two-story colonial on an acre in upstate New York. That's what happened when you wanted a piece of what many considered paradise – a home three blocks from the ocean on Coronado, the peninsula of prime real estate across the harbor from downtown San Diego.

Garrett Hill lived in the more spacious apartment downstairs. Not that he stayed there often enough to enjoy it. He traveled most days of the month and had been out of town for three solid weeks. Half the time she only knew he was home when she heard his heavy footsteps echo through the paper-thin walls.

This trip struck her as odd. The usual blanket of secrecy lifted. A man she'd never seen before had come to the door two days ago looking for Garrett. A courier had left a package for him, saying Garrett gave her name as someone who could sign for it.

Looked like he'd broken the whole lone-wolf thing he had going on and she had no idea why. But she could ask even though the chance of getting an answer was slim. Heck, he'd never even told her what he did for a living, and she'd sure poked around on that topic several times. Good thing she believed in a healthy dose of persistence.

Slipping off the window seat, she grabbed her key and stuffed it in the back pocket of her cut-off denim shorts. The window air conditioner had lost the race against the unusual scorching July afternoon heat. Thinking maybe heading downstairs for a visit would keep her t-shirt from sticking to her back, she jogged down the steps, letting her feet fall heavy in her running shoes to warn of her impending visit.

She knocked twice. On the second rap, the door slipped open as if the wind had pushed it. Since the air stood deadly still today and Garrett was a bit of a security freak, a ball of anxiety started spinning in her chest. With her past, she didn't scare easily but this scene had Bad Horror Film written all over it.

CHRISTMAS PARTY SWITCH (December 2012)

Aaron McBain stood in the only doorway without mistletoe taped to the beam and checked his watch for the tenth time. The schedule ticked along with precision. No surprises. No problems.

He knew that was a bad sign.

No holiday party ever ran on time or as planned. Actually, no party, meeting or anything sponsored by Craft Industries sailed along without an issue. But a half hour before the official kick-off, a steady line of sullen office workers dressed in gray suits had started filing in and now hovered in groups around tables and near the Christmas tree set-up on the small stage at the far end of the room.

Absent was the usual happy holiday chatter found at similar events for other companies, likely because Craft's owner declared attendance mandatory for this after-hours, nowhere-near-the-office party. Amazing how requiring that people have fun guaranteed they didn't.

Aaron wasn't exactly on fire for the party either, and the drive was only one frustration. He'd been working undercover on the Craft security team for three months and handled everything from drunken rages in the office hallways by dismissed employees to threats against the company's president, Lowell Craft. And since Lowell spouted some controversial business theories, including one about how companies treated employees like children instead of workers when what would motivate staff was a series of unexpected office firings on Fridays, it was amazing the guy wasn't knocked over by an attacker in the parking lot every afternoon.

But there was a viable threat today, had been for months since Lowell got the first note promising a painful death if he didn't step down as head of the company by Christmas. Which was why Aaron stood three feet away from where Lowell inspected the buffet table with his usual frown. He apparently didn't approve of the festive atmosphere the center had provided. Not a surprise to Aaron since Lowell didn't like anything.

____________

Remember to check out the other authors' snippets:

Eliza Gayle

Rhian Cahill

Anne Rainey

Jody Wallace

Lissa Matthews

Mari Carr

McKenna Jeffries

Taige Crenshaw

Alison Kent

Delilah Devlin

Shiloh Walker

TJ Michaels

Shelli Stevens

Zoë Archer

Leah Braemel