Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery)

It’s been slow for us. We’ve had to cut back on our expenses.”
    “Well, this one is on the house,” Eddie said. “Your money’s no good here.”
    “That’s nice of you, Eddie,” Snow said. “But we insist on paying our way.”
    “You can pay if you want,” Eddie said. “I’ll just tear up the receipt. No sense arguing about it.”
    “Alright,” Snow said. “You win this one, but you’ll have to agree to bring Georgine over to dinner one night. Alice is planning to make some lutefisk.”
    Eddie scowled. “Aghh, I hate that stuff.”
    Snow chuckled and slapped the table. “You’re from Bismarck and you don’t like lutefisk?”
    “You’re from Minnesota,” Eddie said. “You like it?”
    Snow screwed up his face and shook his head.
    “Alright, alright,” Alice said. “We’ll grill some chicken instead.”
    “Oh, hey,” Eddie said. “I finally did it. I finally hired somebody named Wanda. She’s a new cook, just started Monday.”
    “So Wanda’s Waffle House is legitimate,” Snow said.
    Eddie laughed.
    Snow’s cell phone chirped.
    Eddie raised his hand. “I gotta get back to work,” he said, and then he wandered off.
    Snow pulled his phone out and put it to his ear. “Yeah, Mel. What’s up?”
    “Magnum P.I.—how’s the gumshoe business?”
    “Terrible,” Snow said.
    “Well,” Harris said, “I’ve got some good news and some bad.”
    “You got some strange woman pregnant,” Snow guessed.
    Harris laughed. “First I’d have to get one…oh, wait…let me write that down. That’s a keeper.”
    “So what happened?” Snow asked.
    “That case you’ve been investigating has come to a close.”
    “You’re kidding. You solved it?”
    “No,” Harris said. “The perp came in and confessed.”
    “Really. Who is he?”
    “It’s not a he . It’s a she ,” Harris said. “Kathren Olson, the mother of the victim’s roommate. She says they had an argument, and she ended it by knocking her head out of the park.”
    “I didn’t know she was even in town,” Snow said.
    “Yeah,” Harris said. “I don’t why she confessed. We would have never tied her to the crime.”
    “I know what you mean,” Snow said.
    “Well, anyway. The chief’s planning to issue a press release after lunch. So you can probably bill a few more hours until then.”
    “Thanks, Mel,” Snow said. “That’s good to know.”
    “Say hello to your partner for me,” Harris said. “Tell her I think she ought to make you an honest man.”
    “Now you’re scaring me,” Snow said.
    “Tell me about it,” Harris said. “Take care.”
    Snow flipped his phone shut and shoved it in his pocket.
    “So that’s done,” Alice said.
    “Yep,” Snow said. “I figured they’d do the right thing.”
    “I still wonder about Erin Potter,” Alice said. “Why would she go to the trouble of trying to create an alibi when she had nothing to do with the murder?”
    Snow took a swallow of coffee and set the cup down. “She was probably afraid of getting sucked into the mess by association. Innocent people go to jail all the time.”
    “You know what else I was wondering about?” Alice said.
    “What’s that?”
    “Kathy Olson’s murdered husband. I wonder if she had anything to do with it.”
    Snow nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that myself. We’ll never get the answer to that question.”
    “Oh!” Alice said. “I forgot to tell you. My sister Corina called me again last night. She’s definitely coming to meet me this weekend.” Her face spread into a grin. “She’ll be driving down here from San Jose on Friday. She said she’ll be leaving work at noon.”
    “She doesn’t want to fly? That must be five hundred miles.”
    “She said she hates airports,” Alice said. “She loves to drive, and she just got a new car. I’m so excited. I can’t believe I’m finally going to meet her.”
    Snow smiled and nodded.
    “And I want you to meet her too,” Alice said. “Maybe the three of us can have dinner together somewhere Saturday night. Someplace nice.”
    “I’ll have to wear something snazzy,” Snow said. “I think I have an expensive dress shirt somewhere in my closet. Hopefully I can remember how to work the iron.”
     
    END

Rex Kusler was born in Missouri and raised in a small town in Iowa. Thanks to a lifelong fascination with mathematical probability and gambling, he enjoys spending his free time in Las Vegas and looks forward to retiring there. For now, he lives