Read Ashes to Dust (Las Vegas Mystery) for Free Online

baseball games on TV. Had dinner around nine. Went to bed probably about ten.
    “The next morning, I was making breakfast when the police showed up…” He looked down at his hands, his eyes watering. His mouth opened and closed slowly, like a fish out of water.
    Snow gave him a moment. “Did you make any calls from your home phone during that time?”
    Still looking at his hands, he shook his head.
    “Were you on your computer at all? Anything that might show you were here?”
    He looked up at Snow, his mouth hanging open. “No.”
    Alice leaned forward. “When you saw Crystal coming out of her front door, how did she seem to you?”
    Miller cocked his head to the side and looked at the carpet in front of his chair. “Well, I must have startled her, because when she saw me walking toward her, her eyes got big. She seemed in a hurry, kind of impatient and nervous.”
    “Does she always act that way toward you?”
    Miller looked at Alice. “Yes, I’d have to say she does. She used to be friendly toward me, but after this last breakup with Laura—I think she’s gotten tired of putting up with me. You know, calling all the time, showing up at the house. Can’t say I blame her, really.”
    “What about you and Laura?” Snow asked. “I’m sure you had arguments…”
    “Yeah, sure. Who doesn’t?”
    “Did it ever get physical?”
    “Never.”
    “You ever hit her?”
    “No.”
    “She ever hit you?”
    “No. She had a temper, but her expressions of anger were always verbal. She liked to slam doors. That was it.”
    “Did you argue a lot?” Snow asked.
    Miller nodded. “Quite a bit. She was a handful.”
    “You never had the urge to hit her, push her…anything?”
    “To be honest, some of the time I wanted to strangle her. But I didn’t. She knew how to piss people off.”
    Snow looked him in the eye. “You didn’t kill her?”
    Miller stared back at him. “No, I didn’t.”
    “Who do you think did?”
    Without hesitation, he said, “Tyson Dole. Laura’s tenant. He and his wife rent her home in North Las Vegas. Laura was scared to death of him. He’s extremely volatile—he threatened her more than once. Nothing direct—a lot of innuendoes. He’s more than three months behind in the rent. Laura had started the eviction process.”
    “How do you know about this if you hadn’t been speaking with Laura?”
    Miller crossed his arms. “We talked sometimes since the breakup. Whenever she felt like talking, or—I guess—needed someone to talk to. I think that when she was scared, she felt safer talking to a guy.”

“What do you think?” Alice said.
    Snow fired up the Sonata and looked over at her. “I have to say, I think Kevin Miller comes across like a straight shooter. I can understand why Mel thinks he had nothing to do with the murder. He seems innocent enough to me.”
    “I hate agreeing with Mel, but I was thinking the same thing. So where does that leave us?”
    “Tyson Dole. He definitely goes to the top of the list. Crystal was the last to see Laura alive, but there’s no motive with her. Except maybe PMS and an argument over whose turn it was to do the dishes.”
    Alice shook her head and rolled her eyes. “And she keeps a pair of men’s size twelve work boots sitting around to disguise her tracks in case she gets the urge to drag a body out into the desert.”
    “And then there’s Jack Roberts. No will or insurance policy on Laura. So there’s no motive other than the fact that he’s a perverted nutcase.”
    “I don’t think it’s good to talk that way about our client,” Alice said.
    “You want me to lie? I don’t know why you feel the need to defend everything he does—and coddle him.”
    “I’m not coddling him,” she argued. “I treat him with respect and try to honor his wishes because he’s our client. I’m trying to run a business here, Jim. We can’t handpick the people we want to work for, or we wouldn’t have enough of them to make a living. I