Geri Krotow - Her Secret Christmas Agent

“Yes, sir,” they answered in unison again, and Chief Todd walked out. Rio waited a full ten seconds until he stage-whispered to Nika, “It’s okay if you have a hard-on for your teacher, Nika. It happens to the best of us.” Bryce harrumphed a laugh and Nika gave Rio a lovely hand gesture.

“Why don’t you keep your focus on your girlfriend, Rio? Don’t worry about me. I’m not going to try to jump the chemistry teacher any time soon, trust me.”

Rio winked at her as he left. The door was immediately filled by the SVPD receptionist. “Detective Campbell, Mr. Everlock is here to complete his report.”

Mitch Everlock stepped into the space and filled it with an aura of humor. Was his chest puffed out with more than just muscles? He nodded at Bryce and then shot Nika a shit-eating grin that left no doubt about how long he’d been waiting in the passageway to enter Bryce’s den of teasing.

Mitch had heard enough, enough to think Nika might indeed have the hots for her teacher.

* * *

“Mitch, have a seat.” Bryce motioned at the seat in front of his desk. Nika ignored the heat in her cheeks and sat straighter, trying to appear more professional as Mitch sat next to her. A waft of his unique scent immediately reminded her of the long moments she’d spent underneath him in the science classroom.

“Thanks, Bryce.”

Interesting. Bryce and Mitch had met, and Nika would bet it wasn’t just since the harassment against Mitch started. An air of camaraderie existed between them that she’d only ever experienced with the SVPD. As if they were law-enforcement colleagues.

“You two met earlier today.” Bryce pulled up a file on his screen as he spoke. Mitch’s eyes found hers and she had the ridiculous urge to look away. As if she were some kind of freaking shy schoolgirl.

“Nice to see you again, Nika. Now can you tell me where you keep your weapon while you’re in the school?”

“I could, but you don’t really need to know, do you?” She forced herself to continue to meet those beautiful eyes of his without wavering. Crap, this case was not going to be the piece of cake she’d hoped. Finding the perpetrator of the ugly written threats was only the surface of a much bigger problem. She felt it in her bones. Add her unwelcome and most inconvenient attraction to Mitch and it wasn’t looking pretty.

“Fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll figure out where you keep it.” Mitch’s smug smile didn’t have the effect she thought he’d want, as it made her stomach tighten, her awareness of him on overdrive.

“Nika, you know that Mitch is a former Marine, right? Spec Ops, wasn’t it, Mitch?”

“Something like that.” He clammed up.

That’s why he’d responded to the rock so instinctively. He had specialized military training—he wouldn’t have reacted so quickly, so professionally, so damned correctly, when the rock crashed through the window if he hadn’t. He hadn’t mentioned Spec Ops when he’d said he was a Marine veteran.

Nika chewed on her lip, trying to ignore the swell of annoyance that these two men weren’t going to let her in on their shared history. She was certain she’d never been in the station at the same time as he had been—he’d be impossible to miss. He was an attractive single male. Not a lot of them on SVPD, as most of the officers were married, about to be married or at least in a committed relationship.

“Nika, you with us?” Bryce was staring at her. Oh, God, she’d let her mind wander back to the feel of Mitch’s body on top of hers.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

Again, she’d let her attraction to Mitch distract her. It wasn’t like her. Not at all.

Bryce nodded. “Thank you. So, Mitch, do you have anything beyond what you already told me the other day? When you got the message written in blood on your fancy chalkboard?”

Mitch shook his head. “No, unfortunately I’m afraid I’ve given you all I remember from that morning. But I did have a hunch today. It’s nothing solid.”

“Go on.” Nika jumped in, ignoring Bryce’s surprised glance. Usually she was the quiet one in the station, the SVPD officer no one expected to ever test boundaries or regulations. Bryce was a detective and technically she was reporting to him for this case. But she was the one in the trenches with Mitch.

“It’s about one of my students. You met her, Nika. Rachel.”

“Yes, the one in your morning class, the one who’s also in the Rainbows?”

“Yeah, that’s her. I can’t pinpoint what she’s said or done in particular, but something about her is making me think that she’s involved. On top of that she’s let her grades drop, and she’s looking worse each day. She’s been downright hostile, less interested in her grades and where she’s going for college. As far as I know she’s not planning to even apply anywhere challenging. She’s playing it safe by saying she’s going to Silver Valley Community College for her first two years, then transferring. That’s a great plan for most students, but she’s always been way above average.”

“Did she say anything to you about either incident, the blood writing or the rock?”

Mitch shook his head. “No, no, of course not. In the first place, there’s no reason the kids will know about the rock, and we’ve kept the written threats as quiet as possible. Only the faculty has been told about them. In the second place, I’m not the teacher the kids come to for touchy-feely things. I’d never expect Rachel or any other student to confide in me. I just see her drift off at times, and then she got a bit belligerent over a lab procedure.”

“How can you say the kids don’t come to you when you’re the teacher sponsor of the Rainbows?” Nika wasn’t going to let him off so easily. She didn’t think he was playing a false modesty card but his comment didn’t make sense to her.

“Sure, the LGBT community and their supporters have found a safe place in my classroom to hold their meetings. They know they can trust me—I won’t repeat anything I hear in their meetings, unless I think someone is in danger or needs professional help. But I’m not their go-to-guy for pep talks, if that makes sense.”

“That’s probably wise, too, given today’s climate. You said yourself you’re not a professional counselor. You’re at heart a caring teacher with an interest in seeing the students have the support they need.” Bryce spoke as if he might know why Mitch had volunteered to be the teacher sponsor for the Rainbows.

Nika made a mental note to ask Bryce about it at a later time.

“Nika, it’d be helpful if you can become friends with Rachel. Find out what’s behind the change in her behavior.” As Bryce spoke, Mitch looked intently at her. While she heard Bryce’s suggestion she couldn’t look away from the silent message in Mitch’s eyes. Did he feel the chemistry bubbling beneath the surface, too? And not the laboratory kind?

“Nika?”

“Sorry, Bryce.” She turned back to him. “Sure, I can do that. But we need more to go on than a hunch. I’ll try to find out what her friends know about her.” She turned back toward Mitch. “Have you known her for more than this year?”

“She’s been in my class since sophomore year. It worked out that I was teaching honors chemistry her sophomore year, and then I was promoted to instruct IB chemistry, a two-year course. Rachel, along with the other seniors you’ve met, has been in my class for IB chem since last year. She’s been in my classroom for three grades now, but these past few months she’s been squirrelly. She used to be more happy-go-lucky.”

“Do you think she’s doing drugs or alcohol?”

Mitch sighed. “I sure as hell hope not. But I know we can’t rule it out. There hasn’t been one class I’ve taught since I arrived here six years ago that hasn’t had at least one or two students take the wrong path. The honors kids aren’t immune to addiction any more than the rest of us.”