Below the belt miami jon.., p.26
Below The Belt (Miami Jones Private Investigator Mystery Book 16),
p.26
It wasn’t the conclusion of a successful case that elevated my mood. I didn’t see too many positive outcomes. I had gotten the Cabrinis a nice chunk of change, just at a hell of a cost. But now I was sitting on my favorite stool at my favorite bar, and the world was starting to feel like it wasn’t going to spin out into the endless universe.
Danielle sat next to me with a vodka tonic, and beside her, Ron was sipping a beer. Muriel was pouring, and Mick was grilling grouper sandwiches in the back.
“How’s Fishook?” I asked Danielle.
“He’s more bird than fish because he’s singing like a canary,” she said. “Dorcas had Breyer Priestly picked up in Orlando, and Fishook’s blaming him for all of it. Apparently, someone told Dorcas that Priestly was a foreign national, so when they went to his office and saw him working, that meant he was here illegally—he didn’t hold a work permit. And because he doesn’t have a US residence, the judge denied bail on account of him being a flight risk.”
“Is he at Gun Club Road?” I asked. “I’d like to visit.”
“You leave him to Dorcas.”
“No fun.”
“And it looks like Samson will have to sell the gym to pay his defense lawyers. But he’s had an offer from LA Fitness.”
“That feels wrong,” I said. “Where will all those kids go?”
“Sadly, I don’t know.”
“We should form a syndicate,” said Ron.
“Like a joint venture?” said Danielle.
“Yeah. Cassandra has a capital investment firm on call. They could advise.”
“You want to invest in a stinking gym with a busted door?” I asked.
“Yep,” said Mick from behind the bar.
“Oh. Hey, Mick. You doing okay?”
“Yep,” he said to me, then to Ron: “Sign me up.”
“Let me look into it,” said Ron.
Mick held up the plates in his hands. Grouper sandwiches. The fish was grilled with nothing more than seasoning and then placed inside a hoagie roll with mayo, but I couldn’t re-create the same taste from my grill at home if my life depended on it. But I need not worry. That’s why I had Mick.
I bit into my sandwich and did a little happy dance on my stool. “You’re a genius, Mick. What’s your secret?”
“Fish,” he said, walking back into the kitchen.
“Fish,” I repeated. “I should have known.”
The sound of laughter was welcome. Muriel poured me another beer. “You guys should taxi tonight.” She looked from me to Danielle.
“Why?”
“Because you wouldn’t accept payment for the case.”
“So?”
“So he told me to comp your bill.”
“Forever?”
“In your dreams. This is Mick we’re talking about. For tonight. Like Sinatra. One night only.”
I looked at Danielle and she smiled. “You earned it on this one.”
“I’ll take another one of these fish sandwiches.”
“Done.”
“We’re still going for a run tomorrow morning,” said Danielle.
I stared at her with wide eyes. “But this is like Halley’s comet. Once in a lifetime.”
“You should see your face right now.” Danielle winked and turned to Muriel. “Another vodka tonic. Thank you, Muriel.”
“Coming up.”
“Am I in on this deal?” asked Ron.
“What will the Lady Cassandra say?” I asked.
“She’ll say enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime event and sleep on Miami’s couch tonight. So?”
“The tab was for Lenny Cox Investigations. You work there, don’t you?” said Muriel. If Ron had been a Labrador, his tail would have wagged him right off his stool.
I don’t know what time I got home. When I woke, the sun was up, I was lying on a lounger on our back patio, and my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I looked to my right and saw an empty lounger. The sliding door whooshed open and closed, and Danielle sat down. She handed me a glass of water.
“Good night,” she said.
“Yeah. Did I sleep out here?”
“We both did.”
“Well, that’s okay then.”
“Nice to know we still have it in us.”
“I am not drinking for the rest of this century.”
“How about a run?”
“Don’t. Just don’t.”
“Ron’s on the sofa.”
“Good. That might have saved his marriage.”
We drank our water, and Danielle went and got refills. Then she lay down beside me.
“You doing okay?” I asked.
“Didn’t we do that already?”
“I don’t mean that.”
“What, then?”
“At the funeral. I don’t know, you seemed funny.”
“Funny ha-ha?”
“You know what I mean.” I sipped my water.
“It was a funeral. It just got me thinking.”
“About dying?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. That’s no good.”
“Actually, it is good. I don’t mean lying around depressed about it. I mean acknowledging that it will happen and you shouldn’t take life for granted. You should do things, say things. Live with less fear.”
“You live with fear?”
“We all do. I’m just saying it made me think, that’s all. Nothing bad. I just want to be more aware. Thoughtful. Grateful. Considerate.”
“There’s a lack of that in our world, I’ll give you that.”
“And it starts with the man in the mirror.”
“You saying I need to be more grateful?”
“I don’t think you need to do anything. I love you as you are. And I know what you just did for the Cabrinis, and that makes me proud, MJ. I was once married to a man who was destined for greatness but never goodness. You, on the other hand, are a good man. You just need to believe it a little more.”
“And greatness?”
“Comes in many forms.”
I took a deep breath—in through the nose and out through the mouth—and then a long drink of water. I watched the birds play across the sky, ducking and weaving, diving into the water, maybe for food or maybe just for the sheer joy of it.
“Oh, and, MJ, do you remember signing a napkin last night?”
“No. Did someone want an autograph?”
“Not so much. But I think you might have bought a share in a gymnasium.”
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK
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ALSO BY A.J. STEWART
Miami Jones series
Stiff Arm Steal
The prize possession of a local media personality has been stolen. But this thief isn’t just taking possessions, he’s stealing glory days.
Offside Trap
A star student-athlete overdoses on a college campus. Miami Jones lived in that world years ago, so can he get to the bottom of a mystery no one wants solved?
High Lie
When one of Miami’s friends fishes a young boy from the ocean, Miami finds himself in the world of Florida gambling where the players play for keeps.
Dead Fast
Nobody vacations like Miami Jones. He and Danielle are bored on a Jamaican beach when they go looking for action. They find more than they bargained for when they happen upon an up-and-coming sprinter getting beaten up in an alley.
Crash Tack
The prequel to the series. Miami and his mentor Lenny investigate a death during an ocean sailing race where their friend Ron is the prime suspect.
Deep Rough
When the PGA comes to town someone is sabotaging the event. Miami thinks golf is a good walk ruined but he finds himself battling crazy caddies and angry alligators to find the saboteur-turned-murderer.
King Tide
Trapped in a five-star hotel during a hurricane, a guest discovers a body. Lucky Miami Jones is one of those trapped, but so is his part-time nemesis, a local PD detective. Can they work together before someone else dies?
No Right Turn
A classic car collection has vanished in the middle of the night. Miami enters the high stakes world of NASCAR to discover a thief and finds a world where folks are as good as their word and no one can be trusted.
Cruise Control
Floating around on a boat with 2,000 other people is not Miami’s idea of a good time, but when he is hired on a delicate case he finds himself cruising the Caribbean seas trying to solve a high-stakes caper.
Red Shirt
Miami gets a call from his past and before he knows it he’s in New England on the trail of a fraudster and confronting his old life, and all the reasons he left it behind.
Half Court Press
Miami Jones is enjoying a spring break when a case lands on his desk from a most unexpected quarter: A local Palm Beach detective wants him to investigate threats against a star basketball athlete who has just been selected #1 in the draft.
Past The Post
Miami Jones is enjoying a day out at the races when a jockey collapses. It looks innocent enough until he discovers this man had a past, and that past might just have caught up with him in the final straight.
The Ninth Inning
Miami Jones gets a call from an old acquaintance to take on a job looking into blackmail against a major league baseball player, from a night long ago, one that sticks in Miami’s memory, from back when he was a young, hopeful minor-league pitcher.
Big Thaw
Strange things are happening at the new hockey arena in West Palm Beach. Is it sabotage or the result of a voodoo curse? Miami must find the truth before South Florida burns.
Devil’s Backbone
When Miami is hired to investigate corruption at a fishing tournament, he expects to find old guys with a cooler full of beers. Instead he finds a new media world where the clues are pointing at all the wrong people—including him.
Below The Belt
Mick, the no-nonsense owner of Longboard Kelly's, is a man of few words. So when one of those words is "help", Miami Jones is there.
Three Strikes
The prequel. Miami Jones is at college, pitching for the University of Miami in the College World Series when he meets a mysterious girl with ties to a local air force base where secrets are being sold.
John Flynn series
The Compound
An elite unit is hunting a deadly extremist group in Somalia, Africa. When the unit learns that the extremists have kidnapped children from a local village, they must decide if young lives are more valuable than the lives the terrorists will continue to take.
The Final Tour
Sent to Iraq during the US drawdown on what appears to be a routine investigation, Jacques Fontaine and his team find themselves under attack from insurgents, the military and unseen forces with widespread political connections on what might be their final tour.
Burned Bridges
John Flynn never had a normal life. The son of a Marine, a childhood in Europe, military service in war zones across the world. But when he met Beth he dared to think that the normal life he longed for could be his. He was wrong.
One for One
When John Flynn goes to Eastern Europe to look up an old military buddy he finds a man under threat. And the threats are designed to draw Flynn out into the open. They should have left him alone.
The Rotten State
Flynn and Gorski find themselves in Denmark, where a community mourns a dead girl. But expectation is that worse is to come, unless Flynn can unmask secrets decades in the making.
Lost Luggage
John Flynn’s life comes full circle when the hunt for the forces that tore his life apart leads him to the South American jungle, and a secret that could destroy the world.
Lenny & Lucas series
Temple of Gold
Lenny Cox joined the Marines to protect the innocent. The adventure was a bonus. So lying in the humid Southeast Asian jungle watching over a CIA supply drop is his idea of a good day out. That’s until he sees the recipient of the drop is an ex-Khmer Rouge unit, four years after the killing fields.
Danielle Castle novella
Little Packages
Special Agent Danielle Castle is neck deep in a case involving Russian gangsters gaming the South Florida slots when she learns about a stolen shipment of aid that was destined for the hurricane-ravaged Bahamas.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Lisa, for creating diamonds out of coal, and Stacey for rubbing off the remaining sharp edges.
As always, all errors, omissions, and fictionalizations are on me, except for that one last bout. Sometimes you need to know your limit, and sometimes you need to stand up and fight.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.J. Stewart is the USA Today bestselling author of the Miami Jones mystery series and the John Flynn thriller series.
He has lived and worked in Australia, Japan, UK, Norway, and South Africa, as well as San Francisco, Connecticut and of course Florida. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his two favorite people, his wife and son.
AJ is working on a screenplay that he never plans to produce, but it gives him something to talk about at parties in LA.
You can find AJ online at www.ajstewartbooks.com.
Jacaranda Drive Publishing
Los Angeles, California
www.jacarandadrive.com
This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover artwork by Streetlight Graphics
ISBN-13: 978-1-945741-51-7
Copyright © 2022 by Jacaranda Drive
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
If You Enjoyed This Book
Also by A.J. Stewart
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Stewart, A.J., Below The Belt (Miami Jones Private Investigator Mystery Book 16)
