At the end of a bloody trail, Johnny Redd finds an incredible secret. While struggling with a bullet in his chest, he crawls along the ground until he finds himself surrounded by a maze of quaint carnival tarps. Inside is a world of color, costumes, false hair, nails, eyelashes -- and a man who dresses like a woman. It’s a world of trickery, deception, and lies. Johnny makes it just inside the tent when his strength fails and he faints dead away. When he awakes, he’s reminded of the bizarre reality that surrounds him. It’s that he learns he has been taken care of by a man – er. woman -- by the name of Frenchy Starr. The name rolls from the tongue of this fallen angel, this princess of darkness, this twilight queen. She’s a mystery, a dangerously beautiful mystery, and Johnny slowly becomes ensnared in the trap which she sets. After one night of incredible love, a jealous fan shoots Frenchy. Thinking her dead, Johnny’s heart is broken and he leaves in search of something to fill the hole she left in his heart. Enter Kit Dalton.

Carnival Cowboy

And then he saw the bank where he’d almost lost his life, and felt a chill. Everything looked and felt so normal in the little town that was located up close to the Red River, he felt as comfortable as he would in a warm bed. The town itself was small, with a tree here and there, a kid or two playing in the road, and dogs barking as they chased wagon hoops. He even saw chickens running loose in the street that seemed to scatter and cackle when horses or carriages rode through. Cowboys, chewing on the ever-present toothpick, leaned against the clapboard buildings laughing while the town ladies scooted along gossiping about the dance hall girls. On one end of the town was a church, and on the other was a school.


Now, after hiding out in Mexico for six months, his stomach was full of refried beans, but his pockets were empty, and it was time to remind his old gang that he was still alive, and waiting for his cut of the money.


Chapter 5