Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery)

always giving me the eye, so I finally asked her out. Nice lady.”
    “It didn’t work out?” Alice asked.
    Tex looked down at the table and laughed. “Oh it worked out great—until I did something incredibly stupid.” He laughed again and shook his head.
    “What happened?”
    Tex looked up from the table at Alice. “It’s a little embarrassing…”
    Alice waited. Snow said nothing.
    “It was our third date,” Tex began. “Crystal invited me over for dinner. Laura didn’t have any plans, so she was there. They were both off that night. We were sitting there listening to music and drinking wine, while Crystal’s casserole was baking in the oven.
    “We ran out of wine, and I volunteered to go pick up some more. But Crystal insisted she go. After some discussion about it, she finally left. And as soon as she got out the door, Laura kind of eased her way discreetly over to me, started putting her hands all over me, and complimented me on my choice of aftershave.” He laughed. “It was Aqua Velva. I buy it when I do my grocery shopping.
    “Anyway, I’m not sure what I was thinking, or if I even was, but the next thing I knew I was in Laura’s bed with my clothes off. And then I heard Crystal’s voice from the doorway to the bedroom. She said, ‘At least you could have had the decency to shut the door.’”
    “What did Crystal do then?” Snow asked.
    “She just quietly turned around and walked back into the living room. I jumped out of bed and got my clothes back on and got out of there. When I walked past Crystal, she was sitting in a chair staring at the television. It wasn’t even on.”
    “What happened after that?”
    Tex sighed and folded his arms. “Of course, you know, there was no sense calling Crystal up again. That would be stupid. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t want to go out with me again.”
    “Logical thinking,” Alice said.
    “But the next day at the start of our shift, Laura came up to me for her first load of drinks and asked me out. Just like that. She walked up to the bar and said, ‘So, you want to go out with me?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ I’m not proud of what happened, and I don’t go around bragging about it, but I figured, what the hell?”
    “How long did that last?” Alice said.
    “Couple of weeks,” Tex said. “I finally figured out she was living with some guy. I guess it was Kevin Miller. She wouldn’t ever let me pick her up at her house. We’d always have to meet somewhere, or she’d come over to my place. And then one night, we were lying in bed, and her cell phone rang. She started arguing with him on the phone. Lied to him and told him she was out with Crystal. She told him he was an asshole for not trusting her.” He laughed.
    “Did you find out what happened between Laura and Crystal after you left that night?”
    Tex nodded. “Laura told me she got dressed and went out to the living room. Crystal was still sitting there, staring at the TV. So Laura turned it on and sat down on the couch. They just sat there watching TV for the rest of the night. Laura said neither one of them said a word to each other.”
    Snow stared at Tex, frowning. “What happened to the casserole?” Snow said.

All four chairs that occupied the James & James suite were still in Alice’s office. Alice and Snow were seated in their swivel chairs, Alice behind her desk, Snow near the end of it. Crystal Olson and her mother were seated across the desk from Alice. They sat demurely, side by side, their hands clasped tightly in their laps, their eyes glassy and swollen. Looking at them caused Snow’s shoulders to tense.
    “I’m sure this won’t be remembered by you as one of your favorite trips to Las Vegas, Ms. Olson,” Alice said. “But we’re hoping this investigation will be concluded soon. Then everyone involved can begin to put this experience behind them.”
    With a forced smile, Kathy Olson nodded. “Please—you can call me Kathy, Alice. And I would just like to say, at this point, that I’m pleased two competent detectives such as yourselves are working on this case to get it resolved. I don’t have anything bad to say about the police in general, but I’m pretty sure most of them don’t take much of an interest in seeing justice done. I know in the case of my late husband, rest his soul, there was a less than stellar job done investigating his death. And I’d hate to see the same thing happen a second time with Laura.”
    Snow shifted his gaze to