Chapter 3Dustin arrived at Luigi’s Pizza Parlor at 6:45, fifteen minutes early.
Like most businesses this time of year, Luigi’s had been decked out in gaudy holiday décor. Around the dirty square window of the door, someone had taped garish red and green tinsel garland that had seen better days. Pinned to the door was a plastic Santa Claus.
Since he was early and saw no sign of Travis Stone being likewise early, he pulled out his cellphone to call his sister, Eleanor. She went by Ellie.
“Dusty!”
He winced at the nickname but let it slide. “Hey, kiddo. How’s it going?”
“Great. I’m cleaning up after dinner. You book your flight yet?”
Ellie had married her high school sweetheart. A year or two after their wedding, they’d decided to move out of California to South Dakota. They now had th
