Ella came upstairs to let me know that she was leaving, and offered to take the parcels to the post office for me. Ella was amazing. I was going to miss her.

Dickie got home just after six, just as I was staring into the fridge and deciding what to have for dinner. There were some Thai food leftovers that I was eyeing off and decided to heat up since it was just the two of us for dinner.

"It's quiet in here. Where is everyone?" he asked.

"Val decided to have dinner with my parents tonight. I've had enough family time recently so I decided to skip it."

"Good decision," he said.

I divided the food on to two plates and we took it over to the couch.

"Ella's had to resign, she's found a full time job," I told Dickie.

"Oh that's a pity. Our house always looks so great after she's been," he said.

"I know! I'm going to miss her so much. I wonder if she can suggest a replacement," I said.

"Do we really need a replacement though? I mean, when Ella started cleaning the house you were working full time. Now you're not working, do we really need a cleaner?" Dickie asked.

I knew that he'd bring this up. He kept hinting that I should be a housewife.

"First of all, I am working. I'm working really hard on my business." When I could. When the Plum Craziness didn't take over as it had lately. I missed focusing on my business.

"Second of all, we don't need a cleaner, but you're going to have to do your fair share. You were the one who wanted to move to this giant house."

"I don't have time to clean," he said. "I work really hard to support us!"

"I work really hard to support us," I glared at him.

Valerie and the girls noisily arriving home helped break the tension a little bit, but it was another frosty night in the Orr-Plum household. Val didn't seem to notice though, she was bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Mary Lou called me this afternoon! Her neighbours were interested in having us stay as house sitters for a few months while they decide what to do with their house while they're in Florida," Val said. "We can move into the house in two weeks! And they're leaving it furnished, so I don't have to worry about that just yet. All I need is a car, and I'm all set!" Val was beaming. Some of her Californian positivity had returned.

"That's great, Val!" I told her. I was happy for Val, but also relieved for me. I needed more time to work, and also Dickie and I had been snippy with each other a bit more the last few days and I figured that having extra people in the house wasn't helping.

After Val had dropped off the girls at school the next morning she helped me with my orders while I worked on the last details for the Plum Vintage range, and the next shipment for Plum Blossoms. Val and I made a great team. It was actually nice to spend so much time with her. Maybe we could keep working together after she'd move into her own house.

We took a break for lunch, then went back to working. I confirmed the order details and sent it off, then updated the website and social media details. I wasn't quite sure how to market Plum Vintage and mostly was just hoping for internet savvy old ladies. I probably needed to think about this a bit more.

There was a knock on the door. Val went down to answer it, and I could hear voices talking. Then she yelled, "Stephanie!"

I went downstairs to find Val and Morelli in the kitchen. Val was looking a little pale and Morelli was making her a cup of coffee.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"It's all a bit strange," Val said. She looked at Morelli. He looked at me.

"Does anyone want to tell me what's going on?" I asked.

"I found out what DeChooch lost. It was a human heart," Morelli said. I felt a bit faint at that and sat down beside Val. Morelli pulled out another coffee mug and made me a coffee too.

Morelli began to explain. He followed the clues starting from the license plate that his neighbour had written down. The license plate belonged to a mobster's wife. Well to start from the beginning of the story that Morelli explained – DeChooch was working with Louie D on the cigarette smuggling, two old mobsters trying to keep their hand in the business. Then Louie D dropped dead on the job. When DeChooch called in to report, he misheard the command to bring Louie D's body home ("bring the fart to me") and instead removed… well an organ that Louie D no longer needed (his heart). DeChooch, being old and crazy, didn't see how insane that was but somehow along the way lost the heart. He thinks that somehow Dougie and Mooner had the heart. He must have passed that along to Sophia, Louie D's wife, when she threatened to run DeChooch through the family meat processing plant.

"It's safe to assume that Sophia took both Dougie and Mooner after DeChooch blamed them for losing Louie D's heart," Morelli finished. I felt like I needed something stronger than coffee.

"How did you find that out?" I asked Morelli.

"I have my sources," he said smugly.

"Was this source tall and blonde?" I asked, thinking of Terry Grizolli that we went to school with.

"Terry? No. I don't want her to get involved. I actually asked Connie, Vinnie's assistant. Connie knows everything that happens in this town," Morelli said.

"Small addition to the problem," I told Morelli.

"Yes?" he said, looking at me. He looked like he was expecting bad news.

"I rang DeChooch last night and told him that I had what he was looking for and I was willing to trade for it."

"Trade what?"

"Dougie and Mooner."

"But DeChooch doesn't have Dougie or Mooner?"

"Uh…. Dunno. But Ranger said-"

"Ranger said?" Morelli was nearly yelling.

"Ranger has the bond for DeChooch now and asked me if there was a way I could find out where DeChooch was. I figured this was the quickest way to get him off the street. I don't like being threatened with a gun," I glared at Morelli.

"All right," he said, running his hands through his hair.

Val sat there quietly.

"Another problem," she began. Morelli and I turned to look at her. "Um I stopped by to see mom quickly on the way home from dropping the girls at school and she was looking for Grandma. She said that she'd gone out early to get rolls from the bakery and hadn't come back yet. She wasn't too worried but it was still early."

I stared at Val, not sure where she was going with this.

"Well you told DeChooch that you wanted to trade, right? And he doesn't have Dougie or Mooner, so… what's he going to trade?"

Oh crap.

My phone rang. It was Grandma's number.

"Hello?"

"I've heard that you have something that I want," the voice said. It sounded like DeChooch.

"Yes, that's right. I do. I want to swap for Mooner and Dougie," I told him.

"I've told you before, I don't have either of them," he said, sounding frustrating. "But I do have something that you do want."

"Ahhh hold on a minute," I said, putting him on speaker, and gesturing to Val and Morelli. This didn't sound good.

"I said, I have something that you do want. Don't I? Go on, tell her," he said.

Val and I looked at each other.

"Hello!" Grandma's voice said happily down the phone.

"Grandma? Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Because Eddie DeChooch has kidnapped you?" Val asked.

"Oh is that what this is. I wondered why I had to cover my head while we were driving but I thought maybe he was getting kinky. Anyway it's a nice basement that he has us in. We-"

"Stop talking!" said DeChooch.

"Well don't you think that I'm going to be easy just because I'm kidnapped," said Grandma, then she went quiet.

"I'll meet you at the Quaker Bridge Mall at 7 to trade your Grandma for the heart. And don't call the cops," DeChooch said. Right. The heart.

"Where should we-" I started to ask, but he'd hung up already.

Don't call the cops. I looked across at Joe. "He said no cops," I told Joe.

"No, he said no calling the cops. Luckily you don't need to call because I'm right here. And also luckily old Eddie DeChooch thinks of me as little Joey Morelli, neighbourhood pain the ass, not the cops."

"We should call Ranger," I said.

"Already on it," Morelli said, pressing call on his phone. "He's on his way," he said, hanging up the phone.

My phone started ringing again. "What now?" I asked, looking at it. It was my parents home number. Uh oh.

"Hi mom!" I said.

"Stephanie! Have you seen your Grandmother? She went out early this morning and she's not back yet. I'm getting worried," my mother said.

"Oh yes, she just got here. She ended up going on a shopping trip with some friends from the Seniors Centre. She looks exhausted so I told her to go lie down for a nap," I told her. Valerie's eyes widened.

"Oh I am so relieved. Do you want me to get your father to come and pick her up?"

"No, it's okay. I told her I'd take her out to the mall tonight. I need advice on some new shoes," I said.

"Well don't let her talk you into anything outlandish. Is she going to stay at your house tonight?"

"No, we're a bit full with Val and the girls here. I'll drop her home around eight," I said, crossing my fingers that would be the case. I said goodbye and hung up the phone.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum! You just lied to your mother! That's a sin!" Valerie said.

"It's less of a sin than telling her what's really going on!" I said. We both turned to look at Morelli.

He shrugged. "I never really paid attention in church, you're probably both sinners," he said. Fair enough. My thoughts turned back to Ranger. Probably the way I admired him was a sin too. And soon he was going to be in my house! Omigod!

I was thinking about hyperventilating when a black porsche glided to a stop outside the house. That didn't help with my calming thoughts. Ranger got out and walked towards the house. He had a blank expression on his face as he looked at the house. I opened the door as he approached.

"Hi. Uh, come in," I invited him. "We're all in the kitchen drinking coffee."

He walked into the kitchen and he and Morelli exchanged his nods. I introduced him to Val and she blushed.

"Would you like a coffee?" I asked Ranger. He nodded. Minimal communication, I see. I took a guess and made it black, no sugar. He didn't seem like a sugar sort of guy. His mouth twitched a bit at the corners, like he was thinking of smiling, so maybe I got it right. He took the coffee and sat down at the table. I picked up the container of Ella's cookies and took it over with me, offering everyone a cookie. Morelli and Val took one, Ranger refrained. I knew it, he was a health nut.

"Now here's the issue," Morelli said. "Besides that DeChooch has Grandma Mazur and wants to trade her for the heart. Louie D's wife Sophia has a pretty fearsome reputation of her own. And she is Benny's sister-in-law. His wife, Estelle, is meant to be with her sister at the moment. So if we call the cops on them, DeChooch could find out. But I don't want to leave Dougie and Mooner with them any longer than possible. I have a buddy who is in the police down there, and I want to get him involved."

"DeChooch said no police," I reminded Morelli.

"Luckily this is an unrelated matter, since it's my houseguest who has gone missing, last seen getting into a car with plates and a description that matches the one that belongs to Louie D's wife. I'm a cop, I need to report it," Morelli said.

"Call it in," Ranger agreed, "We don't have any authority to go into their house looking for Dougie or Mooner."

Morelli nodded and pulled out his phone, walking away to make a phone call. I looked over at Ranger. It felt strange having him in the house, like having a not quite tame panther in the living room. He looked calm enough but it didn't seem entirely risk free having him there.

"I have a plan for capturing DeChooch," said Ranger. "I want us on the ground in two teams. We'll split into two." He looked at Val and me, assessing us. "Val and Morelli, I want you inside the mall. Probably the food court. It's busy and crowded and it's likely where DeChooch will make the swap. Stephanie, you'll be with me on back-up outside."

"What will we be doing?"

"I don't want to apprehend DeChooch inside the mall. He's too unpredictable and trigger happy. We're going to wait outside and grab him as he exits."

Morelli came back, finishing his call.

"It's all set," he said, hanging up. "They're going to set up watch now, and then hit them just after five. They'll stall on the processing and paperwork, so no phone calls will be made until after seven."

Ranger filled Morelli in on his plan, and Morelli nodded.

"What do we do for the heart?" I asked.

"I'll drop by the butcher that I use for Bob and pick up something that will do," Morelli said. "I'll put it on ice and make it look good."

"If I'm outside with Ranger, won't DeChooch get spooked if he sees Val instead of me inside?" I asked.

"DeChooch is eleven million years old and blind as a bat," Morelli said. "He won't be able to remember what you look like or tell the difference."

Ranger nodded. "We'll meet up at six and get in place. I'll pick you up."

"Um, no, that's okay, I'll meet you there," I said.

"Not going to tell the husband what you're up to?" he asked, mouth corners twitching again.

"I don't think you picking me up is going to add to my marital harmony," I said.

"I can pick you both up," Morelli offered.

"I'll drive us to the mall and we'll meet you there at six," I said firmly. I wasn't sure what I was going to tell Dickie about tonight but I knew that having either Ranger or Morelli pick us up wasn't going to make it better.

"I've got to go and pick up the girls from school," Val said.

"I've got to go and let Bob out," Morelli said.

"Hey, could you give me a ride to my parents? I want to pick up the Buick so I have my own car," Val said. Morelli nodded and they walked out together, leaving me alone with Ranger.

Ranger picked up his coffee mug and drank the last of it, then walked over to the kitchen and put the mug in the sink.

"Thanks for the coffee," he said.

"I'll see you tonight," I told him.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said, and an unexpected grin spread over his face. If he looked a bit dangerous with his serious face, he was downright scary when he was smiling.