Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery)

strength I had in me.” She looked at Snow. “I’m sorry, Jim. Could I trouble you for some water?”
    Snow jumped up and left the office. He returned a minute later carrying three cups full of water. He handed one to Crystal, another to Kathy, and set the third in front of Alice. The three women thanked him. He pulled his spiral notebook out of his back pocket and sat down. He began to write.
    Kathy drank half the water in her cup. She lowered it to her lap and held it there with both hands as she continued. “Well,” she said, “after I hit her with the bat, I immediately regretted it, but it was too late for that. She fell over, knocking the lamp off the end table, and took a few strained breaths. And that was it. Suddenly the life was gone from her. I knew immediately she was dead. And I just stood there, with the bat still in my hands, staring down at her. Suddenly I was overcome with an urge to vomit. I was thinking, I hope I don’t throw up on her . Fortunately I didn’t.
    “I went and put the bat back from where I had gotten it and sat down on the couch. And I was still sitting there when Crystal walked in.”
    “What were you thinking while you were sitting there?” Alice said.
    “I considered calling 911,” Kathy said. “But I knew if I did that, I’d be going to jail, and then prison. And then I realized that my life was over. After that I didn’t really think about anything. I was in a daze until Crystal got home. And when she walked in, I think she went into shock too. She didn’t say anything to me. Just stood there looking at Laura lying on the floor.
    “Finally I came to my senses and told Crystal to leave. I would get rid of the body and straighten up. But Crystal wanted to help me. She’s always been a good daughter.”
    “Whose idea was it to buy the work boots?” Snow asked.
    Crystal finally spoke up. “That was my idea. I thought it would throw the police off track if we took the body out into the desert and burned it to get rid of any evidence. And if there were footprints left there by a man, that would lead them away from my mother. The problem, I knew, would be with the ground being so hard. It might not leave any footprints. So we stopped along the way to scrape up some loose dirt with a shovel. I thought if we put some of that down in a few places, there would be some obvious prints for the police to use as evidence.”
    “Then why did you cover the footprints later?” Snow asked.
    “We started to think that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to leave such obvious prints. I was afraid the police might trace the soles of the shoes. And that’s what you did.”
    “Whose car did you use?” Snow said.
    “Laura’s,” Crystal said. “We carried the body out to the garage and put her in the back seat. That was the reason I knew I had to help. My mother couldn’t get the body out to the car by herself without dragging it. I was afraid of her leaving evidence behind, and it just seemed too gross to me.”
    “Who dragged the body out away from the road?” Snow said.
    “I did,” Kathy said. “I wore the men’s boots. I set the body on fire. All Crystal did was help me carry the body to the car.”
    “And she bought the shoes,” Alice said.
    “I wanted to be the one to go buy them,” Kathy said. “But I don’t know my way around Las Vegas very well—”
    “I wanted to pick a store on the other side of town,” Crystal said, “so it wouldn’t be a likely place for the police to check. So I went and got the boots while my mother stayed with the body.”
    “What did you do after you got back from Stober Road?” Snow asked.
    “I took my mother to a motel,” Crystal said. “Got her checked in. Then I went home and called the police to report the disturbance in the living room.”
    Snow continued to scribble in his tiny notebook.
    “What about Erin Potter?” Alice asked. “Did she have a role in this?”
    Crystal’s eyes narrowed. “Erin? She didn’t even know about it.”
    “She tried to get her hairstylist to provide an alibi for her,” Alice said. “Why would she do that?”
    Crystal shrugged. “I have no idea.”
    “What about your fiancé?”
    “He’s no longer my fiancé,” Crystal said. “That’s definitely over.”
    “He must have come to some conclusions about what happened in your home after he left,” Alice suggested.
    “He probably thought I killed Laura,” Crystal said.
    “You didn’t think he might talk to the