Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery)

time.”
    “How long ago was that?” Alice asked.
    “Eight months ago. So there were only a few months where we’d hang out together. Andrew and I never really hit it off. You know how it is—the two women are best friends, so Andrew and I get dragged into the picture. He always seemed like a nice enough guy—but he’s a dentist. We had trouble finding common ground. I can’t even imagine what would drive someone to want to work in people’s mouths all day—unless your patients were all supermodels.”
    Snow grinned and nodded.
    “Do you know how close the friendship was between Laura and Andrew?” Alice asked.
    Miller’s eyes widened. “Laura and Andrew? I couldn’t say. I expect no different than my relationship to Crystal. Just friends by association.”
    “Close friends?” Alice asked.
    Miller’s head jerked back as though he’d been pushed. “I wouldn’t know. Not that I noticed. You mean intimate…?”
    Snow cleared his throat. “Andrew told us he confided in Laura frequently regarding his relationship with Crystal. They talked on the phone quite a bit recently.”
    Blinking several times, Miller looked down at the coffee table, then back at Snow. “I don’t know anything about that. It’s news to me. You think they were having an affair?”
    “I don’t know,” Snow said. “We were just wondering about that. It’s probably nothing.”
    “Probably,” Miller agreed. Then he lowered his eyes to the carpet and stared at it as though it were covered in blood.

It was a few minutes past ten p.m., Saturday night. Coffee at Denny’s on Boulder Highway.
    Jim Snow was returning from the men’s room to find Alice on the phone. She was staring into her cup of green tea, frowning.
    Snow pulled his chair out from the table and sat down. He took a sip of coffee. It wasn’t bad.
    She looked up at Snow, her eyebrows drawn together. “You think it’ll be on the news?” she said into the phone. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Yeah, no doubt. Hey, Mel, while I have you on the phone, you mind if I ask you something?”
    Snow cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. “You’re talking to Mel?”
    She nodded. “Mel, did the CSAs find any evidence of the body being dragged to the front door or into the garage?” She nodded. “Okay. Thanks, Mel. We’ll talk to you later.” She pressed the disconnect button and dropped the phone into her purse.
    She looked at Snow. “Tyson Dole has been arrested.”
    Snow’s mouth fell open. “No way.”
    “It’s not what you think,” she said.
    His eyes narrowed. “What’s the charge?”
    “Quite a few of them, actually. But not what you’re thinking. He was running naked down Las Vegas Boulevard, between the cars, shouting obscenities and making indecent gestures to the tourists on the sidewalk. He was northbound in front of the Mirage when he was apprehended.”
    “Mel Harris called to tell you that? Why?”
    “Because he thought it was funny,” Alice replied. “He’s surfing the Net as we speak, looking for video clips.”
    Lowering his head, Snow rubbed his forehead with his fingertips. “Well, we shouldn’t be surprised. With everything he’s been through, he was bound to crack.”
    “Too bad he’s a resident,” Alice said. “If he were a tourist, they’d probably just send him back to his room in the morning.”
    Snow put his arms on the table and looked out the window into the parking lot. “Actually, might have been a pretty smart move; now he’ll get free psychiatric face time from the county. Some sort of counseling program.”
    “Didn’t people used to do that sort of thing in the seventies—for fun?”
    Snow nodded. “It was called ‘streaking.’ I don’t think the police even took it seriously back then. There were naked people running around all over the place.”
    Alice sighed. “Maybe I’ll make some phone calls on Tyson’s behalf. Tell them what I know about him.”
    “That he’s nuts?”
    She smiled. “Yeah, I guess they don’t need my help figuring that out.” She took a sip of her tea and brought her eyes back to Snow. “So, what are your thoughts at his point?”
    Snow leaned back in his chair, took a slug of coffee, and swallowed it. “To start with, regarding Laura Roberts, it looks like everyone agrees she enjoyed pissing people off. So, anyone who was in Las Vegas without an alibi Tuesday night could be a suspect. Tyson Dole apparently was home entertaining himself, so he’s off the