# THOMPSON-HAYES: BLOOD MONEY
## Chapter Twenty-Six — The FBI Comes to Mia
Agent Carla Vance was not what Mia had expected.
She had constructed, from Jake's description and Cole's brief mentions, a specific type — formal, guarded, the particular professionalism of federal law enforcement worn like a uniform even in civilian clothes. She had expected someone who asked questions in straight lines and received answers the same way.
Vance was none of that.
She was forty-three, direct-eyed, with the specific unhurried quality of someone who had been in enough rooms to stop performing patience and simply have it. She wore a plain jacket and flat shoes and she took the coffee Mia offered without asking whether it was fresh.
She sat at the kitchen table — everyone ended up at the kitchen tab
