They arrived at the front gate of the Gallagher house.
The lights were still on inside, but what was strange was that there wasn't a single sound coming from within—no yelling, no chaos, nothing.
So…
Dexter's eyes flicked around as a possibility occurred to him. He edged forward a bit and peeked toward the back of the Gallagher house.
And the mont he looked—
Uh-oh.
Digging up a body in the middle of the night—yeah, that's not easy. Must've been exhausting.
Well then.
Might as well make it even more exhausting.
Dexter didn't linger. He hopped on his motorcycle and took off.
About ten minutes later, he reached the street and found a public payphone.
He cleared his throat, changed his voice, and did his best to sound like a woman. He muttered a couple of test lines to himself, felt it was decent enough—not likely to be recognized easily—then picked up the receiver and dialed.
"Hello? I need to report a cri! I just saw soone who looks like they killed soone and is burying a body behind a house. The address is 2119 North Wallace Street…"
After saying just that one sentence, Dexter hung up cleanly, grinned, got back on his bike, and headed back to his hotel.
---
Murder? Burying a body?
That was a major case.
Even though the caller's voice was obviously disguised and could very well have been a prank, given how serious the accusation was…
Better safe than sorry.
The dispatcher didn't dare waste any ti and imdiately reported it up the chain.
Before long, the police station responsible for North Wallace Street—the sa precinct where Tony worked—received the call.
Monts later, Tony, who was still grinding away at the station this late at night, left with a grim expression and a coworker at his side. They got into the patrol car and sped straight for the Gallagher house.
---
The Gallagher house, backyard.
It was the dead of winter. The temperature was brutal, and the ground was frozen solid, making it incredibly hard to dig.
Even after working at it for quite a while, Fiona had only managed to dig a small hole. She still hadn't reached Aunt Ginger's remains.
Completely wiped out, Fiona stopped for a mont, wiped the sweat off her face, and asked Frank, "Frank, are you sure it's here?"
Frank nodded firmly. "I guarantee it's right there."
The truth was—it wasn't there at all. It was actually in a corner at the very front of the yard. Frank had rembered it wrong.
Fiona didn't ask again. She took a deep breath, rubbed her hands together, and kept digging.
Just then—
Woo—woo—woo—
The sound of police sirens drifted in from the distance.
The instant she heard it, Fiona's heart jumped into her throat. She froze, guilt written all over her face, and looked at Lip. "What do we do?"
Lip's brow was already tightly furrowed. "Stop digging for now. Let's see what's going on. It might not be for us."
Even as he said that, deep down, Lip had a pretty strong feeling that the squad car was coming here.
Fiona did as he said.
The Gallaghers waited in tense silence.
The sirens grew closer and closer.
Before long, the patrol car stopped just outside the Gallagher backyard.
Seeing that—
Fiona panicked and instinctively wiped her face hard with her hand.
Debbie panicked too, quickly moving to hide behind Lip.
Frank was also rattled. He imdiately started spinning his wheelchair around, trying to bolt.
"Frank, don't you dare run!" Lip snapped sharply when he saw it. Then he lowered his voice and said to Fiona and the others, "Everyone stay calm. We haven't done anything. Don't freak out."
The patrol car ca to a stop.
Tony and his partner had already spotted Fiona and the others in the neighboring yard, as well as the shovel in Fiona's hands and the pit in the ground beside her.
"Fk… it looks real," Tony's partner muttered in shock, instinctively reaching for his gun.
Tony quickly stopped him. "What are you doing? Don't draw your weapon. It's just the Gallagher family. They're not a threat."
His partner hesitated. This was a life-or-death situation, after all. "Are you sure? I know you've got history with that Fiona, but in a situation like this—"
"I'm sure," Tony said firmly. "You stay behind . If anything happens, it happens to first."
With that, Tony opened the car door and stepped out.
His partner hesitated for another second, then followed him out, doing exactly as Tony said—standing behind him, right hand resting on his holster.
Tony didn't look back. He smiled at Fiona and said, "Fiona, what are you guys up to out here so late at night?"
Fiona was terrified.
But panic or not, her instinct to lie was still very much intact.
She opened her mouth, and the excuse ca out smoothly. "We're planning to plant so stuff. We all work during the day and don't have ti, so we figured we'd do it at night."
After giving her answer, Fiona clung to a sliver of hope and asked, "Did sothing happen sowhere else? You should go take care of that."
Tony gave a slight, helpless smile. "Actually, Fiona, we got a call saying soone was murdered and that a body is being buried here."
"We need to take a look in the yard."
Thump.
The mont those words landed—
Fiona's expression changed instantly.
So did Debbie's.
Lip kept his face stiff and stayed relatively calm. He imdiately knew the call had co from that bastard who'd been ssing with the Gallaghers. He glanced at Fiona and spoke up first. "Oh? Sounds like a prank call to ."
Tony nodded. "That's what I think too. But since we got the call, we still have to check."
"Sure, go ahead. Co on in and look around," Lip said calmly. Then, as if casually, he added, "Tony, filing a false police report is a serious offense. I hope you guys catch whoever did that."
"Yeah," Tony replied, nodding as he stepped into the yard.
His partner followed silently, hand still on his gun.
Once inside the yard, Tony walked toward Fiona in a fairly relaxed manner.
His partner couldn't relax at all. He moved slowly, then shifted directions partway through, heading for a spot he'd already chosen—one that gave him a clear view of everything.
Tony ignored him and stopped in front of Fiona. "Fiona, I'm sorry. This is just my job."
Like a total simp, he apologized first, then pulled out his flashlight and shined it into the pit.
Fiona said nothing, waiting in unbearable tension.
After shining the light around for a mont, Tony looked away. After struggling internally for a long ti, he finally spoke again. "Fiona, could you hand the shovel? I need to check whether there's a body in the hole."
Tony was genuinely conflicted. He really wanted to just call it and leave.
But as a cop, he knew that wouldn't be right.
The mont she heard that—
Fiona's body shook. Her lips trembled uncontrollably. "Tony, that's not necessary, is it? There's no way we'd kill soone and bury a body."
Lip finally panicked too.
Because—
If Tony dug and just happened to uncover Aunt Ginger's remains…
The Gallagher family would be in serious trouble.
"Tony, just look at us," Lip said hurriedly. ", Ian, Frank—we can barely even move. Who here could've killed anyone? Why go through all that trouble?"
Frank was even more direct, launching straight into a rant. "You cops really have nothing better to do than ss with people—"
Tony might be a simp, but he wasn't stupid.
Watching the reactions from Fiona's family, he could clearly tell sothing was off. His mood sank, and his inner conflict only got worse.
Just then—
Tony's partner, who was also very much not stupid and had noticed the problem too, spoke up with a dark expression. "Tony, I'm calling for backup."
Hearing that—
"Wait!" Tony felt his scalp go numb. He imdiately turned and stopped him. Then he turned back to Fiona and said in a very low voice, "Fiona, give the shovel. If backup shows up, I really won't be able to help you anymore…"
Fiona: "!!!!"
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