"Frank!" Fiona believed every word Abby had said. Panicked and furious, she shouted, "Aunt Ginger is already dead, isn't she? And you've been collecting her Social Security checks this whole time?!"
The moment Frank heard that, his eyes flew wide open. He flatly denied it, sounding righteous as hell. "What are you talking about? How could I ever do something like that? Your Aunt Ginger lives in Wisconsin—she's doing just fine. I talked to her on the phone just a few days ago…"
Fiona knew Frank way too well. One look was enough to tell he was lying. She was shaking with anger. "Oh yeah? She's just fine, huh? Well guess what—the Office of the Inspector General just came by. She stepped out for now, but she's coming back with FBI agents!"
"When they get here, you'd better explain everything clearly. Otherwise, you're going to prison!"
The words barely finished leaving her mouth.
Frank's whole body jolted. "Holy shit!!"
After blurting that out, he immediately started struggling to scoot himself into the wheelchair next to him. "Quick! Push me out of here! I can't go to prison! Hurry!"
That was it.
Every last shred of hope was gone.
It was all true.
Fiona felt like she'd dropped straight into an abyss. She clawed at her hair in frustration. "You… how could you do something like this…"
"Stop talking and stop wasting time—push me out of here!" Frank yelled urgently.
Fiona stood frozen. For a split second, she really wanted to just walk away and let Frank get dragged off to prison.
But then she thought about what would happen if Frank was arrested—
The Gallagher house would no longer have a legal guardian.
Lip, Ian, and the others would be split up and sent into foster care…
That image flooded her mind.
Panic. Helplessness. Despair.
All of it hit her at once.
Fiona couldn't accept that. She moved.
By then, Frank had already gotten himself into the wheelchair.
Not daring to waste another second, Fiona pushed him out the door.
Going downstairs was easier than going up.
After some effort, Fiona managed to get Frank down to street level. Without hesitation, she pushed him straight toward Veronica's place.
Knock knock knock—
At Veronica's door, Fiona banged hard. "V! Open up—now!"
Veronica was upstairs livestreaming for her fans, making some cash. The second she heard Fiona's frantic voice, she knew something was wrong. No hesitation—she grabbed a jacket and rushed downstairs. "Coming, coming!"
Moments later, the door opened. After hearing Fiona's explanation, Veronica immediately understood the situation.
"I need to hide Frank here for now," Fiona said urgently. "If he gets taken away, my family is finished."
"Okay, okay—we'll get him inside first," Veronica replied without hesitation. As Fiona's best friend, she didn't think twice.
Kevin had gone out after lunch and wasn't home.
It took both women a lot of effort, but they finally managed to get Frank—wheelchair and all—into the house.
Naturally, both of them were drenched in sweat.
Frank wasn't as panicked anymore. He visibly relaxed.
Once he relaxed, his eyes started wandering around the room. Something occurred to him. "Hey, Veronica… you've got a lot of meds here, right? Give me something. My leg suddenly hurts like hell."
Hearing that out of nowhere—
Fiona nearly lost it.
She snapped and screamed at him, "Frank, shut the hell up! Shut up! Shut UP!"
Watching Fiona completely lose control, Veronica let out a silent sigh. She knew exactly what kind of hell Fiona had been living through lately. Feeling heartbroken for her, she quickly tried to calm her down. "Fiona, don't get mad. Take a breath…"
Fiona took several deep breaths in a row, forcing herself to calm down. Then she took a few steps and collapsed onto the couch, rubbing her face hard with both hands.
"V… why does this keep happening to me? What am I supposed to do?"
Veronica sat down beside her and pulled her into a hug. "We'll figure something out."
Fiona had nothing left in her. She closed her eyes and didn't say a word.
Veronica didn't disturb her.
After getting yelled at, Frank—rarely—kept his mouth shut and just kept looking around.
After resting for a couple of minutes—
Fiona opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and forced herself to pull it together. "I have to deal with this. Lip might have a solution. I need to go back."
"I'm coming with you," Veronica said firmly. Then she turned to Frank. "Frank, don't touch anything in my house. If you do, I won't just kick you out—I'll personally bring the FBI back here to arrest you."
Frank immediately raised both hands in surrender. "I promise!"
Fiona and Veronica got up and left.
Once the door closed behind them—
Frank grinned, spun the wheels of his wheelchair with both hands, and started moving, searching for the medicine cabinet.
As for Veronica's threat…
He wasn't scared at all. He knew that because of Fiona, Veronica would never actually do that.
---
The Gallagher house, second floor—Lip and Ian's bedroom.
This rundown house had zero soundproofing.
They'd heard Fiona and Frank yelling earlier.
So the moment Fiona and Veronica walked in, Lip—who had already been thinking hard about how to fix this—spoke up immediately.
"Did Frank say where Aunt Ginger is buried?"
Fiona froze. "I didn't ask."
"We'll need to ask later," Lip said calmly. "The key is making sure the FBI doesn't find Aunt Ginger's body. Legally, she's still alive—otherwise the Social Security checks wouldn't keep coming."
"We need to produce an Aunt Ginger."
Veronica jumped in. "That's easy. I can borrow an old lady from the nursing home where I work."
"But… the FBI will definitely verify her identity," Fiona said, realizing the problem. "They'll do things like DNA tests. What then?"
Honestly, this had almost stumped Lip earlier.
"We make it impossible for them to test," Lip said confidently.
"How?" Fiona and Veronica asked at the same time.
"I'll go downstairs and wait for the agents. Fiona, I'll tell them you already left for Wisconsin to bring Aunt Ginger back, so they come back tomorrow."
"And tomorrow morning, we hold a funeral."
"Aunt Ginger is dead, lying in a coffin. There's no way they can do anything then. We'll strongly object to any interference, and the whole thing will quietly disappear."
Lip laid it all out in one breath.
After hearing that—
"Damn!" Veronica said immediately, impressed. "Lip, you're a genius!"
Fiona thought it was a solid plan too. She turned to Veronica. "We need the body of an old woman. Are there any suitable ones at your nursing home?"
"Fiona, we don't necessarily need a body," Lip explained before Veronica could answer. "We could find an old woman, give her some meds, and put her into a fake-death state…"
"Isn't that dangerous?" Fiona asked uneasily. "What if we actually kill her?"
That's when Veronica spoke up. "Let's make that a backup plan. I'll go check the nursing home right now. People die there almost every day—there's a good chance an old lady will pass tonight."
"If not, yesterday's body might still be in the morgue," Lip added.
"Okay," Veronica nodded.
"And Fiona," Lip continued, "you can't go to work this afternoon. We need a coffin, a hearse, funeral decorations… Ian and I can't handle that. You'll have to."
"Yeah," Fiona agreed.
Soon after, Fiona and Veronica helped Lip downstairs, then split up to take care of their tasks.
---
At the same time…
"This one'll do."
Dexter bought a very ordinary, common motorcycle. After paying, he didn't ride it right away. Instead, he walked off to kill some time nearby.
He decided to wait until after dark before riding back, just in case someone remembered the bike and recognized him later.
Better safe than sorry.
Dexter smiled to himself, silently repeating the thought.