I worked on Jeffrey Strangelove's capture plan for about forty-five minutes before my mother called again. "Joe was amazing,'' said my mother. "He was very respectful, but he showed me the video that showed you getting beaten up and, when Ma said it wasn't her, he showed her the video as well. You must be in a lot of pain."

"I've had to stop breastfeeding because it hurts too much to hold Tia, and I'm in too much pain to exist without painkillers. I don't know how I did it in December."

"You were determined to put up with it for the sake of the baby."

"I guess. What did Grandma say when she saw the video?"

"She said it wasn't her and that she'd been framed, when it very clearly was her. She bashed you over the head with her purse." I could hear my mother catch her breath in a sob.

"I think I remember that happening as well. I had my eyes shut, but when one person bashed me over the head I thought it felt like Grandma's purse with the heaviness of her gun inside. My guess is that was when Grandma hit me."

"I told her that I wouldn't be coming to the jailhouse to pay her bail and that she'd have to figure out another solution to get out of jail. I told her that hitting my baby was unacceptable."

"Thanks, Mom. Tough love worked for me, and I hope it will work for Grandma. Remember when I got drunk and threw up on the living room carpet?"

I could hear my mother smile. "I gave you a scrub brush and some cleaner the next day and made you get down on your knees when you were hung over and clean the carpet."

"And that lesson worked far better than anything else you could have done. I only was drunk one other time after doing that, and that was when I left Dickie. And even then, I wasn't as drunk as I had been that first time. Tough love does work, Mom, and hopefully it will work for managing Grandma as well."

"Joe was very respectful with Grandma, but he also treated her to the full experience. He cuffed her and put her in the back of his car. He said that, when he took her into the station, she would likely be in the receiving area of the station for a few hours, and then she would have a chance to stand before the judge for her bail hearing. Does that sound right?"

"Yes."

"Your grandmother looked quite excited about the whole thing."

"She won't be when she is cuffed to an uncomfortable bench and made to wait for hours for her turn in front of the judge, without the chance to get something to eat or drink or the ability to go to the bathroom."

"They won't even let her up to go to the bathroom? What will she do?"

"They don't have the manpower to escort felons to the bathroom. If felons have to go, they go in their pants. The docket officers hose the benches down each night."

"That's gross."

"That's what you're signing yourself up for when you commit a crime. It isn't made to be comfortable for the felons."

"I hate thinking of your grandmother being known as a felon."

"I know, but that is what she is. She may not be comfortable, but she'll have a few of her cronies in there with her. Between Joe and me, we were able to identify about fifteen seniors from the video."

"I don't think there was anyone that I didn't recognize,'' said my mom. "If Joe wants to come back, I could identify the other people as well. I don't want anyone to get away with hurting you. I wouldn't have stood for it when you were a child and I'm not going to stand for it any more now that you are a grown-up."

"I love you too, Mom. Just as a warning, Joe will try to get Grandma in front of the judge this afternoon, but if the area is backed up Grandma won't get in front of the judge until tomorrow morning."

My mother sighed. "Will they keep her cuffed to the bench the whole night?"

"Yes."

There was a silence for a moment. "That probably would be a good thing for her."

"It will certainly teach her a lesson that a shorter wait wouldn't."

"Maybe I should phone Joe and ask him to keep her longer."

"That's certainly your prerogative."

My mom sighed. "This is just like parenting. Sometimes there are no good answers."

"What would you do if it was me as a teenager?"

"First of all, you would never be in this situation. However, if you were a teenager and you were caught on camera doing something so heinous? I would have asked Joe to keep you there for a week."

I laughed. "I think that's your answer then, Mom. Tell Joe to keep her overnight."

I could hear my mom smile. "I'll make something special for your dad for dinner. It's been a long time since we had a dinner at home to ourselves."

I grinned. "Enjoy it. You deserve it." I said goodbye a second later. My mom wanted to contact Joe as soon as she could. The way I figured it, Joe would just be delivering Grandma to the docket officer right then.

Ranger looked at me inquisitively as I was hanging up the phone. I told him what my mother had said and what she was doing, and Ranger smiled. "Never come between a mama bear and her cub?"

"I can understand that. I would react the same way if Tia was threatened, no matter how old she was. This is the same person that you would have nursed through earaches and growing pains. You grow attached to a baby."

"And a baby grows attached to you. You are more than a set of boobs to Tia."

I smiled slightly. I heard what he was saying to me.

"Did you want another pain pill?" he asked. "You look a little uncomfortable."

"Thanks, but I think I'll tough it out until dinner. We'll be eating in a couple of hours or so, and after dinner I'll head to bed for the night and take a pain pill then."

"What did you want to do in the meantime?"

"Work on my capture plan. I want to get this shyster, and the sooner the better. Besides, it will keep my mind off the pain."

"Or, you can have a snack and take a pain pill now, sleep for an hour, get up and have dinner, and spend some time with Tia and me tonight. Even if you work on your capture plan tonight while I play with Tia and give her a bath, you would at least be more comfortable than you are now."

I looked at my watch and thought for a moment. It was only four o'clock, and it would be another two hours before dinner. And two hours was a long time to be in pain.

Ranger came over to me. "Come with me to the kitchen,'' he said, "and I'll make you a snack and get you a painkiller. You don't deserve to be in pain, babe." He hoisted me to my feet, and I dutifully followed him into the kitchen.

Ranger was right to encourage me to take the medication and go to bed. I was able to complete the capture plan relatively pain-free later that evening, before it was time to put Tia to bed. After I finished the report, I sent it to both Ranger and Morelli. Ranger looked at it right away and smiled as he read it. "This is a great report,'' he said. "This will give our surveillance crews somewhere to look. After all, at this point all they had to go on where his house and his 'church', and he's not going to either place. He's holed up somewhere."

"I hope the Rangeman staff can find him."

"We have a much better chance now. There is a reason you are called the Capture Queen by staff." I made a face, and Ranger laughed. "The patrollers say that when you give them a list of places and times that it is most likely to capture the felons, it is rare that they ever have to go into the second option that you suggest", he said. "They say that ninety percent of the time you identify the location where the felons are captured right from the start."

"I hope that holds true this time around as well,'' I said.