***

Arriving at the police station, Mireya passed through a typical working chaos – the detectives’ desks were clogged with documents, phone calls did not ever stop, the sweet smell of their favourite donuts and coffee spread, it seemed throughout the building. Adrianna led her to the interrogation room, where there was a silver table and two chairs, also cameras and microphones that recorded everything was happening in it.

“Is it all so bad?” Mireya asked, sitting down at the table.

Adrianna sat down in front of her, opening a folder for entries. “That’s what we have – you left Leandra’s room, the time of your departure coincides with the approximate time of her death. After you left, someone left her room, but a couple of hours after she left, and it wasn’t Leandra because the door was opened with an electronic key, but someone hacked it to open it; the sensor still worked. So Leandra wasn’t alone there. The cameras were turned off when that unknown came out and left the hotel.”

“The police think it was me?”

“Listen. In her hotel room, all fingerprints were erased, except from a glass of water – there are yours and Leandra’s on it. Yes, the detectives believe you could leave after you committed the murder, but then you came back to cover up the tracks and therefore found a way to turn off the cameras.”

Mireya chuckled. “So I did not turn off the camera before committing the murder and just so quietly left the body of the murdered friend? But then I came back and… Heck! I decided to cover up the tracks, hiding myself. God, that sounds stupid!”

“Maybe it does.” Adrianna wrote something down. “We checked her calls out. Leandra called only you while being in Los Angeles. You were the last one to see her… except her real killer. And there are your fingerprints. But Mireya…” Adrianna leaned back. “All of this is not enough to charge. We need a motive and a weapon of murder.”

Mireya shrugged her shoulders. “We did not communicate for several months, I had no offense – I knew her nature. I was surprised, but not overwhelmed by her decision to suddenly move to Las Vegas, so I probably did not have a motive?”

“Probably you don’t?” Adrianna agreed.

“Okay, what about a weapon of murder?”

“It was a denim belt.” Adrianna said after a short pause.

“A denim belt?” Mireya repeated. “Well, that’s very original. So, am I the main suspect now?”

“That’s partly.” Adrianna smiled sympathetically. “Do not leave the country until the end of the investigation.”

“The country? Wow. I thought, usually the police order not to leave the city limits. Why there are such privileges for me?”

“We are going to Las Vegas.”

The bright lights of Las Vegas night greeted them.

Mireya and Adrianna left the airport and were sitting in the backseat of the taxi; they studied the information that was obtained during the investigation. Leandra lived in a multi-story elite hotel, which was paid for by someone named James Smith. Of course, the name was fake as well as its bank account, which suddenly ceased functioning in the early morning. But it was only the beginning of the road.

Casino-Hotel Domiani Grand Plaza included a lot of slot machines, gaming tables and other gambling entertainment on each of the floors. Standing in front of it, Adrianna was talking to someone from the staff; Mireya was inspecting the streets that were saturated with the smell of hot asphalt and stuffy air. Tourists, police, entertainment… Everything seemed like some kind of game like in an epic action movie about casino players who arranged this beautiful life around themselves.