Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery)

the weekend. When we got back Sunday night, we found him. He had been lying in bed sleeping when it happened. The police said a steel pipe was used.”
    Snow’s eyes narrowed. “That’s terrible. Did the police find the person who did it?”
    She shook her head and looked at her daughter, who was staring at the floor with damp eyes. “No. But they think it was probably someone he owed money to.” She reached her hand up to her face and scratched her cheek with the edge of her thumbnail. Dropping her hand back into her lap, she turned her head to Alice. “You see, my husband was a drinker and a gambler. He had a terrible problem with it. I should have noticed the warning signs before we were married, but I was young and foolish, and I thought I could change him. And he got worse over the years. He only cared about himself and his own selfish, sick compulsions. Even the life insurance policy he had was pitiful—barely paid for the funeral. I had to borrow money from my parents for years after that because of our reduced income—and still, to this day, I haven’t been able to pay them back. The entire ordeal was extremely depressing for both Crystal and myself.” She turned her gaze back to Crystal. “Well, I shouldn’t go on about that. It’s in the past. Now we have this to deal with. I’m sorry for going on about it…”
    “That’s alright, Ms. Olson. I understand.” Snow turned to Crystal. “So, Crystal, you moved here directly from Omaha?”
    “Yes,” she said. “I had been working as a cocktail waitress at a club in Omaha. The money from the tips was good, but I was getting bored with the Midwest and was curious about Las Vegas. I had heard you could make a lot of money as a cocktail waitress in the casinos. I wanted to experience the glitz and glamour of it. It sounded really exciting. So I moved here and found a job right away at Shillington’s Casino. It’s a few miles from the Strip, but they get a lot of the Southern California crowd and the locals from some of the better parts of town. You know, the Summerlin and Spring Valley areas. So the money has been good.”
    “How did you meet Laura Roberts?” Alice asked her.
    “We had been working together at Shillington’s Casino ever since day one when I got here four years ago. We became friends, and a year later I decided to buy a house in Summerlin. Laura owns an older home in North Las Vegas. She bought it before I met her. She was living there with her boyfriend. They broke up the first time about eight months ago, and he moved out. She didn’t want to live alone, so she decided to rent it out and move in with me.”
    “Was that Kevin Miller she was living with?”
    Crystal’s eyes grew wide. “Yes, it was.”
    “As I understand it, they got back together afterwards?”
    She nodded. “More than once. I mean, they were continually breaking up and getting back together. Though she never moved back in with him. She had been sharing my home since he moved out.”
    “When was their most recent breakup?” Snow asked.
    Crystal looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then back at Snow. “I guess it was about three months ago. Around the middle of June.”
    “Is this the longest they’ve been apart?”
    “Yes. In the past they always got back together within a couple of weeks. This time Laura was sure she wanted nothing more to do with him. But he wouldn’t give up. He was constantly calling, leaving messages on our home phone, her cell phone. E-mailing her. Even stopping by unannounced wanting to talk to her, sometimes with a bouquet of roses. He was crazy about her. Obsessed.”
    “Did he have a key to your home?” Alice asked.
    “I don’t think so. I wouldn’t have wanted Laura to give him one, but I have no way of knowing whether or not she gave him one—or if he had one made somehow.” She shrugged.
    “Do you think he might have killed Laura?” Snow blurted.
    Mother and daughter exchanged wide-eyed looks. Crystal turned her head back facing Snow. “I guess it’s possible.”
    “When was the last time he saw her?”
    “I’m not sure. But the last time I saw him was Tuesday afternoon. He was coming up the walk toward the front door just as I was leaving home. It was a little after four.”
    Snow’s eyes narrowed, and he adjusted his position in his chair, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his legs, his fingers interlaced. “Alright. Now, please go back to the beginning and tell us everything that