Page 23 of Christmas in the Shadows

If the situation had been different, Tex might smile. Gilbert, for all his flaws, had always loved Duran Duran. “Hungry like a Wolf” had been his favorite.

Gilbert looked at Chelsea. “I can’t help but think what happened at my place and yours could be connected. Things like this don’t usually happen around here. Maybe when someone threw that brick through my window, they really intended on throwing it through yours.” He paused. “Is there any reason you can think of that someone might do that?”

Chelsea swallowed hard as she rubbed her throat. She’d been shaking ever since she’d confirmed that someone had broken into her house. Tex wished he could comfort her, that they had that kind of relationship. But they didn’t.

“No, I have no known enemies.” Her voice sounded strained as she said the words.

“Not even maybe a student that you’ve made mad?” Tex suggested.

Something swept through her gaze, but she tried to shrug it off. “Not really.”

“Chelsea . . . you don’t need to protect anybody.”

She let out a breath. “I don’t know . . .”

“You can trust me.”

Her gaze darted toward him, underlying emotion lingering there. Then it disappeared as she closed her eyes and pressed her fist over her mouth.

The decision was clearly agonizing for her.

“There is this one student . . .” she finally started. “His name is DJ. He’s really a good kid deep down inside, but he has a lot of issues going on at home. Sometimes he acts out because of those.”

Tex gave her a knowing look. “Go on.”

“Anyway, he’s failing my class, and he came to me a couple of days ago, begging me to bring up his grade. Said he couldn’t fail because then he’d be kicked off the football team and he might not even graduate. Said if that happened, his parents might kick him out too.”

“Was he ever a good student?”

“That’s the thing. He was at the beginning of the semester. He claimed he was having headaches. I told him to get it checked out if it was interfering with schoolwork.”

“Did he?” Tex asked.

“I have no idea. But I felt for him. I really did. But I couldn’t change his grade just because he asked me to. He cussed at me and slammed the door when he left my room.”

Tex’s jaw tightened. “We should definitely let the police know just so they can talk to the guy.”

She shook her head. “If the police go to question him, then his parents will be really mad. They might even kick him out—and he might not be guilty. In fact, he probablyisn’tguilty. I don’t want to put him in that position.”

Chelsea had always been empathetic. Probably the same rationale she was using with this DJ guy was the rationale she’d used with Tex back when they’d been friends.

She was always trying to see the good in people.

Tex was afraid that one day that very attribute he admired might be her downfall. He didn’t want to see her get hurt.

“Do you guys need anything?” Gilbert pointed at his house. “You can come to my place and wait while the police check this out if you want. It’s a lot warmer, and I could even heat some apple cider.”

“I’d rather stay close,” Chelsea said. “I want to hear what the police have to say. But thank you. I really appreciate the offer.”

“Of course. Do what you need to do.” Gilbert took a step back and placed a hand on his heart. “And if you need me, you know where to find me.”

He and Anna headed back through the yard to his house.

As he did, a police officer emerged from Chelsea’s front door. “We took some prints. We’ll need to compare them with yours. And you should let us know anyone else who’s been to visit over the past couple of days. We’d need to rule them out also.”

Tex listened closely, strangely curious to know if anyone else had been over. He could tell Patrick was interested in Chelsea, and that she wasn’t interested. But that didn’t mean Chelsea wasn’t seeing someone else.

“Honestly, it’s just been me this week,” Chelsea said. “School’s been out, and I’ve been trying to catch up on some things around the house, so I’ve mostly been staying home. Alone.”

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