# THOMPSON-HAYES: BLOOD MONEY
## Chapter Six — The Test
Nobody moved for four full seconds.
Cole was the one who broke it. He crossed the kitchen in two steps and took the phone from the table and dialed his sister back. The call went straight to the disconnected tone — the flat, final sound of a number that had already ceased to exist.
He dialed a different number. One he had memorized.
It rang twice.
A voice answered — male, low, familiar enough that Cole's shoulders came down by a fraction. He turned slightly away and spoke in a voice too quiet for the room to fully catch. Thirty seconds. He listened. He said: *are you sure.* He listened again. He hung up.
He turned back.
"It was a plant," he said.
Patricia put her pen down.
"My sister is fine," Cole said. "She's in Dallas. Sh
