Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery)

laughed. “Those days are over. I’m pushing sixty. I’m to the point where I view the female anatomy as an art form. But enough about me. What about you? The two of you keeping busy?”
    “Not really,” Snow said. “You?”
    “No. It’s slow. I’ve got a few lawyers feeding us scraps their regular guys are too busy to handle, along with the occasional walk-in client. But it’s not enough to pay the bills. I’ve been supplementing my income counting cards on the side.”
    “I figured you would have been barred from the whole town by now.”
    “Naw, I’m careful about it. Never play for more than an hour at each casino. Never bet more than a hundred per hand. Work it from twenty-five up to that when the deck’s good—but do it slow and easy, so it looks natural. And I bought a fake Rolex so I’ll look like a high roller.”
    “Why don’t you just do that full time?” Snow said.
    “It’s torture,” Ellis said. “I couldn’t sit there staring at those cards, keeping the count in my aging brain, and maintaining the act forty hours a week, fifty-two weeks a year. And I’d end up like everybody else: barred and out on the street.”
    “Speaking of ‘out on the street,’ I’ve got a job for you, if you’ve got the time right now.”
    “We’re just sitting here watching the idiot box. What have you got?”
    Snow explained the situation with Jack Roberts, and Miller’s need for someone to watch his house.
    “We can be over there in a half hour. Tell him it’s sixty-five an hour, and if that’s okay, we’ll saddle up and head over.”
    Snow repeated the message to Miller; Miller nodded. Snow gave Ellis the okay and ended the call.
    He turned to Miller. “Now we have some questions for you.”
    “Sure. No problem. I’m happy to help.”
    “Yesterday when we talked to you, you told us you and Laura fought quite a bit.”
    Miller tipped his head to the side and shrugged. “Yeah.”
    “And you said it never got physical.”
    “That’s right.”
    “What about Laura and Crystal? How did they get along?”
    “They were best friends.”
    “That doesn’t tell me much,” Snow said.
    “They had an occasional tiff while I was around. Can’t speak for the times I wasn’t.”
    “When you and Laura were a couple, I imagine you were with the two of them quite a bit. Is that right?”
    Miller nodded.
    “How bad did it get between them?” Snow asked.
    Miller looked down at his tennis shoes, then back up at Snow. “It got fairly heated a few times.”
    “What was the worst? What happened that time?”
    Miller let out a sigh. “I came over one night about five months ago. Laura and I had recently gotten back together. The four of us were watching movies on TV and drinking.”
    “The four of you?” Snow said.
    “Laura and I, Andrew Tully and Crystal. We didn’t get far into the evening before Andrew and Crystal started arguing. Andrew left in a huff. Then Laura and Crystal got into it.”
    “What were they arguing about?”
    “It was about Andrew and Crystal—I don’t remember specifically—something insignificant. Laura thought Crystal was being too hard on Andrew, and that was what started them off on each other. It escalated. They began trading insults. Crystal got up from the couch and walked over to Laura. Laura stood up. And Crystal punched her in the jaw with her fist. They grabbed hold of each other and fell on the floor, rolling around and pulling hair. I got up and ran over to them. Managed to pull Crystal off from Laura; she’s not very big, but she’s strong. I managed to get between them and keep them apart until I could get Laura outside and get her to cool off. I didn’t think it was a good idea for Laura to go back in there. So I went in and got her purse, and we drove to the Strip and went to a club.”
    “It sounds like both of them were hot-headed.”
    “Yes. But Laura was a lot different than Crystal. Laura had a methodical way of digging at people and getting them worked up. She was kind of mean that way. Crystal just reacts. Suddenly blows up and goes bananas for a few minutes and then calms down. Like a tornado passing through.”
    Snow turned his eyes to Alice. She met his gaze and raised her eyebrows.
    Turning to Miller, she asked, “How well do you know Crystal’s fiancé?”
    “Not that well,” he said. “I think she started dating Andrew about a year ago. The four of us got together quite a bit until Laura and I broke up the first