Kicks Tricks and Danger, A Button Up Detective Agency Cozy Mystery #4

By Lizzie Lewis

Janika Jones’ early morning jog round the park, and her interview on local TV, lead to unexpected danger. Meanwhile, her relationship with Toby Walton proceeds well, until he shares more of his past life. Janika is concerned there may be a side to Toby that she hadn’t suspected, and she starts to feel uneasy. An elderly lady is being targeted by a conman, and Janika perhaps unwisely tells the lady to hand over the money as evidence of a crime. Young Liam Donovan goes with Janika on a stakeout as mother and son, with Janika wearing a ginger wig to avoid suspicion. She assures Melanie the boy will be completely safe. But at the crucial moment, Liam decides he’s going to be a hero. And of course the celebratory meal at Parke’s with Janika and Courtney Jacobs doesn’t go at all as planned. This is the fourth Button Up Detective Agency book featuring Janika Jones, and some characters from the Abi Button Cozy Mystery series of six books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Tree Publishing
• Release date: Aug 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781913950552

Book preview

About the Book

Janika Jones’ early morning jog round the park, and her interview on local TV, lead to unexpected danger. Meanwhile, her relationship with Toby Walton proceeds well, until he shares more of his past life. Janika is concerned there may be a side to Toby that she hadn’t suspected, and she starts to feel uneasy. An elderly lady is being targeted by a conman, and Janika perhaps unwisely tells the lady to hand over the money as evidence of a crime. Young Liam Donovan goes with Janika on a stakeout as mother and son, with Janika wearing a ginger wig to avoid suspicion. She assures Melanie the boy will be completely safe. But at the crucial moment, Liam decides he’s going to be a hero. And of course the celebratory meal at Parke’s with Janika and Courtney Jacobs doesn’t go at all as planned. This is the fourth Button Up Detective Agency book featuring Janika Jones, and some characters from the Abi Button Cozy Mystery series of six books.

Kicks Tricks and Danger

A Button Up Detective Agency Cozy Mystery #4

by

Lizzie Lewis ©2021

This eBook ISBN: 978-1-913950-55-2

Also available as a paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-913950-56-9

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

[e-mail]

Full list of books and updates on

https://whitetreepublishing.com

Kicks Tricks and Danger is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this abridged edition.

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Book

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

Epilogue

The Abi Button Cozy Mystery Romance Series

The Button Up Detective Agency Cozy Mystery Series

About White Tree Publishing

Kicks Tricks and Danger

Chapter 1

I think I’ve made a mistake in coming this early on a wet Monday morning. My hair is soaked, my top is damp, and my trainers are squelching from where I ran through a puddle that was much deeper than it looked.

I’m putting the blame for this early morning run on Abi Button, now Abi Wells. She’s part owner of Button Up, the coffee shop immediately below my office and small apartment.

I’ve noticed Abi didn’t offer to run with me. I just wish I’d kept my mouth shut. It was almost a throwaway line when I said I’d better not have a delicious apple Danish, because I felt I was putting on a bit of weight.

Abi, bless her, suggested I have a pastry and a large coffee every morning, and take up jogging to make up for it. Well, it seemed a good idea at the time, and rather foolishly I agreed. Now I’m regretting it, and I’ve only been doing this for five days.

For the past couple of mornings I’ve got an uneasy feeling that I’m being watched. I keep turning round to make sure I’m not being followed. As a private detective, fully trained, I ought to be able to spot a tail. No, that’s not it. Someone is watching me, and I can’t work out where they are. A man? A woman? If I knew, I would challenge them directly. The problem is, I don’t know.

I can’t believe it’s Toby Walton, my new boyfriend. He told me recently that several times he’s driven past where I live and seen the lights on. It didn’t seem creepy at the time, and I can’t really believe he’s a stalker. But it does sound a bit teenager-ish. Well, if I do spot him hiding in the bushes, I guess it’s goodbye Toby – and goodbye love.

What really concerns me is that the invisible watcher might be connected to the drugs gang that killed my husband Sam back in Brevelstone. Soon after coming here to Craidlea I had an unpleasant experience when a member of the gang tried to kill me and Detective Inspector Roger Dickinson ‒ actually in my living quarters. The bullet holes in the door at the top of the stairs are there as a timely reminder of the threat I might be still facing.

And that reminds me. The local TV station is planning to interview me next Tuesday afternoon in my own property. They want to broadcast the interview on Wednesday next week, in their regular slot about people in the area with interesting jobs.

They are bound to talk about the bullet holes. I think that may be the main reason they’re coming. I guess not many businesses have a door with three bullet holes in it.

Not that I want to say much about them. As a friendly private investigator, I’m after much more gentle clients than people who would be attracted by the thought of being attacked by a mad gunman while they are talking in my office.

On the plus side, I think my lovely antique mahogany desk would protect them if they hid behind it if someone with a gun started hammering on the outside door, demanding to be let in.

I turn round again, quickly. Someone is watching me from somewhere, I’m convinced of it. Whoever they are, they are obviously too smart to be spotted. There’s a man ahead of me walking a small white terrier, but he’s not turned round once.

I look to see if there’s any movement in the bushes that surround the small park. Nothing. The man has gone now, hurrying through the archway in the high stone wall that leads to an alternative way back to Button Up. He seemed in a hurry. Obviously the rain has the same effect on him and the dog as it does on me.

Water is now dripping from my hair into my eyes and onto my nose. Definitely time to hurry back – back to a pastry and a cup of delicious Button Up coffee. After I’ve changed and had a shower, of course.

Note to self: Make sure you get your hair sorted professionally for the interview on Tuesday next week. You need to look smart and efficient. Also, make sure your black business suit is clean, and you select the jacket that’s not yet too tight round the waist.

Oh, blow all that! Button Up awaits.

Fifteen minutes later I’m dry and warm, my hair in a bit of a mess, sitting in the coffee shop at the small table permanently reserved for family and friends. If anyone rings my doorbell, wanting to avail themselves of my detective business, I can nip out and meet them.

Personal callers are few and far between. Now I come to think of it, even phone calls are a bit rare. I came here with a generous payout for Sam’s death as a serving detective in the Brevelstone CID, plus his life insurance, plus a regular monthly payment. So it’s not that important if business is slow to pick up, although most of the clients I get are so needy that I feel obliged to do the work pro bono. I must be a big softy.

Abi comes across with my large cappuccino and apple Danish. Her business partner Melanie Donovan is behind the service counter, and all the staff are wearing the traditional Button Up black and cream striped jackets with the Button Up logo.

Melanie and Pete Wilders, the young student who helps in the daytime, are well able to give the assistance needed.

When I first got here, I wondered how Button Up got its name. I recognised Abi straight away. I’d known her as Abi Button at school, and discovered she was now married to Danny Wells. Melanie Donovan was Melanie Upton when Abi and Melanie started the business here, so the name of the coffee shop made sense.

Abi sits down by me, looks me full in the face and grins. So how’s your love life going with Toby Walton?

I don’t mean to hesitate, and surely my slight delay before answering wouldn’t have been picked up by anyone but Abi, but she’s straight onto it.

Problems?

Some people think Abi is nosy. I suppose she is in a way, but it’s not intrusive nosiness. She genuinely wants to help, and has a gift for spotting trouble a mile off.

Okay, I say, shrugging in what I hope is a casual way.

It clearly isn’t casual enough. I don’t mean to intrude, Janika, but I couldn’t help noticing Toby didn’t hang around for coffee after church yesterday.

I sometimes think I should enrol Abi as my assistant detective, but it seems I can get all the help I need for free. Well, for the price of coffee and an apple Danish.

So, problems? She’s not giving up.

I try to hide my face behind the large cup of cappuccino as I take a sip. I don’t know, Abi. I really don’t know. I think he might be cooling off.

There, I’ve said it. Actually, I feel better for having shared my concerns. Toby Walton and I have only been going out together for a short time, so we don’t really count as an item. It’s just that I got the feeling Toby was keen on me, and we had the promise of a good relationship.

Perhaps he regards me as damaged goods. I had a terrible time with Bruno Kamiński in Poland. He was controlling and violent, punching me and sometimes kicking me. And when he hit me so hard in the stomach that I lost the baby after five months pregnancy, I’d had enough and returned here alone to Craidlea where I’d grown up.

If my parents had supported me I would probably have stayed in Poland, but they took Bruno’s side. My mother assured me that once we married, Bruno would settle down and be a loving husband.

As if!

Sam was so different. I met him in Brevelstone soon after I returned from Poland. We married, and although we struggled financially, we had a great marriage going. That was when my name changed from Janika Bartol to Janika Jones, and pronounced Janika with a J, not with a Y. All was going well until Sam was murdered by the drugs gang the Brevelstone CID were investigating. Still are investigating.

Abi and her friends persuaded me to go to their local church, and I have to admit that Toby Walton was the main attraction for going the second Sunday. He’s even been out with me on a surveillance job, and as he’s an insurance investigator he’s suggested that he might be able to get me some business.

Up to now, he hasn’t been able to get me any investigative work. Perhaps he’s embarrassed about that, and has decided not to get involved with me.

What do you think, Abi? I say. Do you think Toby has lost interest in me? It was you and Alice Forrester who did your best to fix us up together. Has Toby said anything to either of you?

Abi lays a hand gently on mine. I’m now hugging the cup on the table for warmth. Well, I need cheering up, and the hot cup and Abi’s hand are exactly what I need this morning.

It’s embarrassing, I say. "My friend Courtney Jacobs from Brevelstone CID has fixed up a meal at Parke’s on Friday to celebrate her promotion to detective sergeant. She’s invited her fiancé Ollie, and she knows I’ve invited Toby. So I don’t see how I can get out of it. Unless Toby refuses point blank to go with me.

I’m sure you’re imagining things, Abi says. It’s very early in the relationship, and maybe Toby doesn’t want to rush into things.

Problems?

I turn and notice Pete Wilders standing behind me. That young lad is all ears. He’s come across to clean the table closest to ours. Some customers can leave the table in a mess, and this one is no exception.

Go and clean the toilet, Abi says firmly. I’ll see to the tables.

Pete rolls his eyes and goes back behind the counter to help Melanie with an order for two cheese and ham toasties. It’s surprising what some people will eat this early in the morning. I’ve only been poking around at my apple Danish. I suppose it’s good that Abi has clarified in my mind that there could be a problem with Toby.

I don’t know anything about him, I say. You’ve lived here all your life, Abi. Has he had a string of failed relationships? It’s not something I can ask him, obviously.

Abi stays with me, making no attempt to clear any of the tables. I think she was joking with Pete, because that’s one of her regular retorts when Pete is trying to listen to confidential discussions. Either that, or she tells him to go and tidy the stockroom.

I don’t know anything about Toby, Abi says. He appeared about eighteen months ago. I don’t think he’s local. I did overhear someone saying he was once engaged. That’s all I know. You need to ask him about it.

I’m a bit taken aback. I’d imagined that Abi had tried to get us together because she knew Toby’s full background, and that he was safe and reliable. Perhaps it’s a good thing he’s cooling. Assuming he is.

Maybe that’s what I want, too.

Chapter 2

The timing is perfect. My phone rings just as I wipe my mouth of the final crumbs of my apple Danish. I’ve been wondering whether to have a second cappuccino, which won’t be good for me this early. If all goes to plan, I’ll be having my second one after lunch. Well, not a cappuccino. Most likely an Americano.

I don’t recognise the number. Button Up Detective Agency. Janika Jones speaking. How can I help you?

There’s a long silence. I hope this isn’t some time waster telling me they’ve heard I’ve been involved in an accident that wasn’t my fault, or I’m about to be arrested for non-payment of income tax if I don’t give the caller my card details immediately. One of those stupid nuisance calls.

I’m about to end the call when a rather frail voice, probably an elderly woman, says she think she’s done a very silly thing. So far, so good. This seems to be genuine. Well, good for me. Maybe not so good for the owner of the frail voice.

Can you tell me about it now, Ms ...?

I need to talk to someone. Will it cost a lot of money if I come round to your office this morning?

Yet another pro bono job. It won’t cost you anything to tell me what’s happened. Maybe it’s best if I come to see you. I’m assuming you’re local. Let me have your name and address.

The caller says she’s Felicity Hemsworth, and she lives on the edge of Craidlea on the road to the reservoir. In that case, I know more or less where her house is.

I can come straight away. You sound very upset, Ms Hemsworth. Whatever it is that’s happened, don’t do anything more until I arrive. I’m on my way.

Abi is back behind the service counter making a thick milkshake for a young man who must be after a sugar fix so early in the day.

A new client? Abi doesn’t miss a trick.

Buckingham Palace, I say. Someone has been looting the Royal Treasury.

Abi just rolls her eyes, but for a moment the young man opens his mouth as though he believes me. But he stays silent.

I always park my Nissan Micra round the back of the coffee shop where there are two parking places – one for me and one for Melanie Donovan. It was the offer of a parking place as well as a pleasant office with attached living accommodation that appealed to me when I first came to look at the property.

Craidlea is only small, much smaller than Brevelstone, but in the centre where I work there are lots of yellow lines which indicate limited parking. You’d think a small town like this would be anxious to attract shoppers, but at least I can leave my car behind Button Up day and night without having to keep moving it, or paying for a public car park.

It seems strange to see my little Micra without the damaged passenger door. Abi’s friend Rupert Forrester, Alice’s husband, fixed it for me at the Old Mill Garage where he works.

Unfortunately, he had to polish the car to match the new paint on the recycled door, so the car looks a bit new. I preferred it with its slightly dull, unnoticeable dark silver grey that allowed me to drive around almost unobserved.

I guess it will soon dull down

Reviews for Kicks Tricks and Danger, A Button Up Detective Agency Cozy Mystery #4

[Sheena Gurbakhash · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another excellent book in the series. Janika is still at risk from the gang who killed her husband. We're getting to know Toby better- let's just say he has baggage- a little heavier than most- Janika gets involved in a number of hairy situations and where before Toby didn't seem very supportive he comes through this time.
Lots and lots of drama in this one.









SPOILER ALERT: (do not read further if you don't want to know)
Things i found utterly baffling:
If you think you have a stalker and know who it is why not ask what that person looks like? We never find out anything about Paula- apart from the fact that she hates Toby.
Janika can shout- yes shout- more significantly she shouts that she loved Toby in a crowded restaurant and no one ever picks up on this again. This after pages and pages of going on about how she doesn't think she can be with another man??
The mystery with the old woman and the painting- given the work that Janika has done before you'd have thought she's know by now how to check a painting for age etc. The whole encounter ended well but I'm not buying the young man's explanation about missing his childhood. That's just shady.