# THOMPSON-HAYES: BLOOD MONEY
## Chapter Thirty-Six — Gerald Reed Falls
The federal arraignment was on a Tuesday in March.
Jake drove to Houston for it. He had not told anyone he was going until the night before — a text to Mia at eleven p.m.: *I need to be in the room. I think I've earned the room.* She had texted back two words: *You have.* Cole had seen the exchange and had not texted anything, but in the morning Mia found a third message in the thread — from Cole, sent at midnight: *I'll be there too. Different side of the courthouse. But there.*
She had looked at that for a long time.
She did not go herself. She had made this decision quietly, on her own, in the days between the email from Dallas and the arraignment date. She had a period-two class at eight and period-four at noo
