They're Back! Chelle/Chelly/Chelle The first time I ever went to my high school reunion was weird. I had just finished working my first case with the Miami Police Department (The Miami Times Mystery Series) and I had gotten called out in the middle of the night for a murder on my day off. So I had to go to my reunion in the middle of the night. This is what it felt like: When I arrived, everyone was hanging out on the poolside. Just like I pictured, they were all wearing the same outfits from high school, acting the same way they did in high school. I am not a snob, but man they were stupid. One guy was standing there in a football outfit like he just walked off the football field. All of them were acting in the way they acted in high school, doing everything they did back in high school, only this time it was all messed up. I felt like I walked into a time warp. When I saw the old basketball coach, I wanted to hit him over the head with my briefcase. Just like in a bad movie, he walked up to me, looked at my name tag and said, "Oops." "I guess so. I don't care about your name tag. What I care about is someone trying to kill you." He did not want to take his eyes off of me. "Dude, calm down. No one's going to hurt you or anything," said the old football player, trying to placate me. The rest of them were just looking at me and nodding their heads. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking. "I don't know who they are. That's why I'm nervous. I don't want anyone to take me by surprise." "That's why I brought some friends with me tonight." As if they hadn't seen me enough, the new basketball coach came up with a few of his cronies. They all looked ready to go on a gangbang with me. I was expecting them to try to jump me again. "This is my girlfriend, Marilyn," the new basketball coach said, introducing me to his friends. There were seven of them, mostly ex-teammates of his from when he played for the Miami Hurricanes. "We decided to meet them in San Jose," he said as he pointed to his crew. "They went to Arizona State, so they don't really fit in at the University of Miami. You should have seen those guys in the locker room, man! No one else was around. I can't believe some of those guys were in the same room with us and we didn't notice. This is where I found all the best recruits. Of course, there was only one star left out of all of them. It was like I was trying to fit all the nuts in one big nut." Now it was my turn to laugh. "I didn't know you played for Miami." "You think I'm joking? All of these guys were pretty damn good." He stopped and looked at me. "Can I get you a drink?" "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked. "You just don't seem like a cop, but I know you have to be one. How did a big-time drug dealer get on the police force?" "Is that what you think I am?" I asked. "I don't know what you are. All I know is that I got a few questions for you." He motioned for one of the twins to bring me some gin and tonic. The twins looked like twins because they had identical faces, even down to their identical nose jobs. At the University of Miami they were known as the "Twin Twins." They were both born and raised in Miami and each had attended the University of Miami since they were sixteen years old. I knew I was in trouble when I saw them. When I stood up, I knocked over my drink. "What the hell is that?" I asked, pointing to the drink. "Your drink," he said. "You knocked it over. I'll have to pay for it." He and the twins walked away laughing and joking with each other as if I wasn't even in the room. I couldn't believe they were being so disrespectful, especially to someone who had worked for the Miami Police Department. They had me confused with a small-time officer. "Chelle," I called, thinking about what I was going to say to the guys. "You have any idea how much it would cost to replace that top of the line gin and tonic? And I never use gin and tonic, so how did that even get here?" "Chelle, look at all this money." He waved an arm over my shoulder. "Do not wave any money around in my face, I am not in the mood for jokes," I said, waving my hands in the air. "You'll never guess what happened at my reunion. How would you like some real Miami Times money? You've heard of the Miami Times, right? The newspaper that you're a cop for?" "I know exactly what the Miami Times is," I said, "and it's not mine. You know what you should be doing? You should be reporting this. You might want to have a security guard around in case something happens to you. That might be the reason I'm here. That's what I'm here for." I took out my badge. "Is that a real badge?" he asked. "This is a real one, but don't call it real police stuff. It's made out of plastic, or something like that." "Why would a real badge have a picture of Miami with a bunch of stuff on it and a big Miami Times logo on the back?" "Who's been telling you about the Miami Times?" I asked. "It's a lie." I slammed the thing down on the table. I had to have it when I got on the job and if they had put that on my badge, I would have had to resign or get fired. The whole time I worked for the Miami PD, the Miami Times was behind the whole thing. You did not mess with the Miami Times. "A lot of people are into it and it has to do with that Miami Times story," said one of the twins, ignoring my warning. "What story? What are you talking about? Where did they find that?" I asked. "How would you like a story like that?" the old Miami Hurricanes quarterback asked me. "It was in the Miami Times. They went to my old high school and gave a speech about how every school has at least one real good guy." "Okay, okay," I said. "I am glad they told you to be real nice to people, but how do I know if this story is true? If I did a story about you, and you came back and you were pissed off at me, how do I know you didn't make it up? I am out there working cases. I am out there fighting every day for justice. I am supposed to be on top of my shit. I can't be worrying about who's trying to kill me or some story. People are trying to kill me every day. I am not the only one in Miami." "No, you don't understand. This is like real Miami Times stuff. It's really big. The story had a picture of you and the head of the Miami Police Department was front and center. You were standing there in the same room with your whole unit at your graduation from the University of Miami. It was in the Miami Times. It said it all. You are famous in high school in the whole of Miami, except Miami South Beach, maybe, because you're a cop." "This is ridiculous. I will get to the bottom of this, but right now I need to speak to someone. You need to make sure there is someone at the door to stop any more of this nonsense." They looked at me and started shaking their heads as if to tell me to just calm down and stop getting all excited over nothing. "Look at the newspaper that they gave you," said another twin. "It's a big article. You were pretty much the only black kid at the reunion, and you were probably the only person who attended the university back in the day. You won something. It was in all of those papers. They were printing them in a big box right out front in the high school. Just watch your back. You know there are people who would like to get at the Miami Times. That school paper is the only real newspaper in Miami and, believe me, they're all jealous." They must have been crazy or stupid, or both. The Miami Times was the worst newspaper I had ever seen in my life. All they did was criticize and trash local businesses. Anyone who worked for the Miami Times knew that the paper was run by a group of people who are so racist that not even the Miami Times could escape their venomous attention. They have this theory that if someone has a black face, they have to be the leader of all black people and that they are always on the forefront of racial awareness. I couldn't even pretend to understand their thinking or where the Miami Times came from. I had to find out who would have a reason to go after me at the reunion. I was