Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery)

Crystal. She was biting her upper lip and staring at the front surface of Alice’s desk.
    “Thank you, Kathy,” Alice said. “We appreciate your confidence in us. And I’m sure Crystal must appreciate your support during a difficult time like this. It can’t be easy for you having to take off from your teaching duties. I’m guessing that school has started for your students in Omaha?”
    She nodded. “It started a couple of weeks ago. The principal I work for is very understanding, and we always manage to bring in some talented substitutes, so it’s not that much of a problem.” She nodded again.
    “Oh, that’s good to hear,” Alice said. “One thing I’d like to make you aware of: we don’t expect to have any questions for you. Of course, there is a chance we may think of some in the future. But at the present time, I’d like to let you know that it’s not important that you be here for these interviews with Crystal—unless you want to, and that’s fine, of course.”
    Kathy Olson nodded. “Thanks, Alice. Truthfully, I don’t know what to do with myself. And I’d like to help in some way, even if it’s nothing more than providing moral support for Crystal.”
    Alice smiled. “Okay. That’s perfectly fine.” She shifted her eyes to Crystal and sat back in her chair. “Crystal, first of all, I’d like to congratulate you on your upcoming wedding.”
    Crystal brought her eyes up. “Oh…thank you…well, it’s not definite yet.”
    “Really. I’m sorry to hear that,” Alice said. She glanced at Crystal’s left hand. “I noticed you haven’t been wearing an engagement ring, so I was surprised to hear you and Andrew Tully had set a date.”
    “We didn’t set a date, really,” Crystal said. “Just a month and year—more like an approximation.”
    “I see. So Kevin hasn’t given you a ring yet?”
    Crystal’s shoulders sagged a little. “Yes, he did give me a ring. But we’ve been going back and forth about it.”
    “Since you’re not wearing the ring,” Alice said, “it looks to me like you’ve called off the wedding.”
    Kathy Olson’s eyes narrowed. “What is this about—exactly?”
    “Kathy, I apologize if it seems like I’m asking impertinent questions, and maybe I am. But this how we have to do this. We ask a lot of what may seem like stupid questions. We do that all day long, every day, until we hit on something. And then we change direction.”
    Kathy Olson continued to stare at Alice, frowning. She said nothing more.
    Alice turned her eyes back to Crystal and waited.
    Crystal sighed. “I didn’t call off the wedding officially. We’ve just been having issues lately, and I haven’t felt like wearing the engagement ring. I still have it. I didn’t give it back to him.”
    Snow thought about his two ex-wives. He wondered what had happened to the wedding rings he’d bought for them. Probably converted into a couple of expensive ankle bracelets. Or put on display in trophy cases.
    He brought his mind back into focus. “Crystal,” he said, “Alice and I were going over Laura’s recent cell phone records, and we noticed a lot of calls to and from your fiancé. Do you have any idea what that was about?”
    Crystal’s expression remained unaffected. She thought for a moment and then shook her head. “I honestly have no idea.”
    “More than thirty phone calls in the two weeks leading up to the murder,” Snow said. “Doesn’t that surprise you?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t know. Are you suggesting they were having an affair?”
    “What do you think about the possibility of that?” Snow said.
    “If they were, I didn’t know anything about it. Maybe they were planning something.”
    “Do you have a birthday coming up?”
    She frowned. “No.”
    Her eyes grew moist. She reached up and scratched her forehead with her thumbnail. Lowering her hand back into her lap, she began to cry. “Actually, it’s quite possible. Kevin Miller, originally, was my boyfriend. I met him through an online dating site. After a few weeks, he lost interest in me and started going out with Laura. It happened that way with nearly every guy I dated. Laura kept stealing them all away from me. Can’t say as I blame them. Look at me—I’m short and dumpy. Laura was tall and beautiful.”
    “Don’t sell yourself short,” Snow said. “I think you’re quite attractive.”
    She looked down at her hands and shrugged.
    “Crystal, were you aware of any abusive behavior