Seven Up - By Janet Evanovich Page 0,76

I hand this over to you I want you to call and have Grandma released," I said.

"Sure. Come on in."

"I'll stay here. And I want to hear Grandma tell me she's okay."

Ronald shrugged. "Whatever. Let me see the heart."

I slid the top back and Ronald looked inside.

"Jesus," he said, "it's frozen."

I looked in the cooler, too. What I saw was a blechy-looking lump of maroon ice wrapped in plastic.

"Yeah," I said, "it was starting to look a little funky. You can't keep a heart around forever, you know. So I froze it."

"You saw it when it wasn't frozen, though, right? And it looked okay?"

"I'm not exactly an expert on this stuff."

Ronald disappeared and returned with a portable phone. "Here," he said, handing the phone over to me. "Here's your granny."

"I'm at Quaker Bridge with Eddie," Grandma said. "I saw a jacket I like at Macy's, but I have to wait for my Social Security check."

Eddie got on the line. "I'm going to leave her at the pizza place here. You can pick her up anytime."

I repeated it for Ranger. "Okay, let me get this straight. You're going to leave Grandma at the pizza place at Quaker Bridge Mall."

"Yeah," Eddie said, "what are you, wearing a wire?"

"Who, me?"

I gave the phone back to Ronald and handed him the cooler. "If I were you I'd put the heart in the freezer for now and then maybe pack it in dry ice for the trip to Richmond."

He nodded. "I'll do that. Wouldn't want to give Louie D a heart full of maggots."

"Out of morbid curiosity," I said, "was it your idea for me to bring the heart here?"

"You said don't let anything go wrong."

When I got back to the bike I hauled my cell phone out and called Ranger.

"I'm on my way," Ranger said. "I'm about ten minutes from Quaker Bridge. I'll call when I have her."

I nodded my head and disconnected, unable to speak. There are times when life is just fucking overwhelming.

LULA LIVES IN a tiny apartment in a part of the ghetto that's pretty nice as far as ghettos go. I took Brunswick Avenue, wound around some, crossed over the train tracks, and found Lula's neighborhood. Streets were narrow and houses were small. Probably originally built for immigrants imported to work in the porcelain factories and steel mills. Lula lived in the middle of the block on the second floor of one of these houses.

My phone rang just as I cut the engine.

"I've got your grandmother with me, babe," Ranger said. "I'm taking her home. Do you want any pizza?"

"Pepperoni, extra cheese."

"That extra cheese will kill you," Ranger said and disconnected.

Lula got off the bike and looked at me. "You gonna be all right?"

"Yep. I'm fine."

She leaned forward and hugged me. "You're a good person."

I smiled back at her and blinked hard and wiped my nose on my sleeve. Lula was a good person, too.

"Uh-oh," Lula said. "Are you crying?"

"No. I think I inhaled a bug a couple blocks ago."

It took me ten more minutes to get to my parents' house. I parked one house down and cut my lights. No way was I going in ahead of Grandma. My mother was probably berserk by now. Better to explain Grandma was kidnapped after Grandma was there in the flesh.

I sat on the curb and used the down time to call Morelli. I got him on his cell phone.

"Grandma's safe," I told him. "She's with Ranger. He picked her up at the mall and he's bringing her home."

"I heard. I was behind you at Ronald's. I stayed there until I got the word from Ranger that he had your grandmother. I'm on my way home now."

Morelli asked me to spend the night at his house, but I declined. I had things to do. I got Grandma back, but Mooner and Dougie were still out there.

After a while headlights flashed at the end of the street and Ranger's gleaming black Mercedes eased to a stop in front of my parents' house. Ranger helped Grandma out and smiled at me. "Your grandmother ate your pizza. Guess you work up an appetite being a hostage."

"Are you coming in with me?"

"You'd have to kill me first."

"I need to talk to you. This won't take long. Will you wait for me?"

Our eyes held and the silence stretched between us.

I mentally licked my lips and fanned myself. Yep. He'd wait.

I turned to go into the house and he pulled me back. His hands slid under my shirt