Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery)

between Kevin and Laura?” Alice asked.
    Crystal leveled her gaze on Alice. “Like what?”
    “Did Kevin ever hit her?”
    “Not that I know of.”
    “Do you remember seeing a bruise on her face?”
    She thought for a moment. “No.”
    “Did you ever hit her?”
    Kathy Olson jumped up out of her seat. “Now, just one minute! I’d like to know what’s going on here!” She put her hands on her hips, her eyes burning fire at Alice.
    “We’re just asking a lot of different questions,” Alice said, evenly. “I know it seems harsh and intrusive, but we always work this way.”
    “It looks to me like you’re trying to build a case against my daughter! She didn’t do anything wrong. If you ask me, you should be interrogating Andrew Tully. Not Crystal.”
    “We have been interviewing Andrew,” Alice said. “And we plan to interview him further—along with everyone else we can think of. We have to ask a lot of pointed questions, Kathy. It doesn’t mean we consider Crystal a suspect. The truth is we really don’t have any suspects yet. And we won’t get anywhere if we just sit and discuss the weather.”
    “No suspects? Not yet you don’t,” Kathy Olson said. “But it looks to me like you’re putting the foundation in place to build this whole case around my daughter. And I won’t stand for it!”
    “Good,” Snow chimed in. He motioned toward her chair. “Would you please sit for it?”
    She turned her glare to Snow. “Was that supposed to be funny, you incompetent jerk?”
    “Kathy,” Alice insisted, “if you don’t sit down and remain quiet, we’ll have to ask you to leave.”
    “I’ll leave alright,” Kathy snapped. “And I’ll take my daughter with me.”
    “If she wants to go,” Alice said, “we can’t force her to stay. But the truth will come out sooner or later, with her help or without it.”
    “What truth?” Kathy waved her hand toward Alice. “This trumped-up stack of fabrication you’re attempting to hammer together? You’re both incompetent. A couple of two-bit morons who can’t hold a regular job—so you have to resort to this type of work. You’re both a couple of lowlifes. You should be ashamed of yourselves!”
    Alice sighed and turned her head to Crystal. “Would you mind answering my question, Crystal?”
    She was staring at the floor, her eyes glazed, the color gone from her cheeks. “I never hit Laura.”
    She reached up and scratched her forehead with her thumbnail.
    “That’s it,” Kathy said. “You have your answer. You’ve asked enough questions. We’re leaving.” She reached down and gripped her daughter’s arm, pulling her up out of her chair.
    Kathy turned and shoved Crystal toward the door.
    In the hallway, she threw a final look toward Alice. “Idiots!” she said.
    The front door slammed hard enough to shake the building, and they were gone.
    Snow looked at Alice. “That was quite enjoyable. Could you remind me what it is about this job that we like?”
    “I’ll try to think of something,” she said.

“Tully Dental.” It was a female voice, youthful and cheery.
    “Good morning,” Snow said. “I was wondering if Dr. Tully is taking on new patients.”
    “Yes, he is,” she said. “Would you like to set up an appointment?”
    “Well,” Snow said, “I’m not sure. You see, Dr. Tully was recommended to me by a friend. I had been having problems with my previous dentist. And I had been with her for a long time—over ten years.”
    “That’s quite a while,” she said. “What happened?”
    “Well,” Snow said, “in the beginning she was very good. She was careful, and gentle, and painless. I was very happy with her for quite a few years. But over time, she seemed to change. As she got older, she became careless and rough. One time I had a deep cavity, and she didn’t numb it sufficiently. I didn’t realize until she got down around the bottom of the tooth with the drill that she hadn’t injected enough Novocain.”
    “Oh no.”
    “Yeah, she must have noticed my discomfort, because she stopped drilling and asked me if it was numb enough. I didn’t want her stabbing me with that giant needle again and waiting around for another half hour while she wandered into another room and started torturing somebody else. So I told her it was fine and just endured the pain.”
    “That’s terrible,” she said.
    “Yes, it was,” Snow said. “But I soon put it to the back of my mind. However, the next time I went in