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

Just then Johnny walked out of the bedroom and stood next to Kit as he watched the sheriff ride away. “Did he say what I thought he said?”


“They got the gang, and the bank got the money back?”


“That’s what he said. He also said if you give yourself up, the judge will probably go easy on you.”


“I don’t believe it. It’s just a trick. His way of drawing me out,” Johnny said angrily.


“I don’t think the sheriff would lie about something like that.”


“It had to be a lie. Reno wouldn’t tell him where the money was. A gang don’t work like that. Even if they have to go to jail, they can always go back to where it was buried and dig it up later.”


“Not if it ain’t there. You heard the sheriff.”


“You think I’m gonna believe anything a lawman says? My mind’s made up. I’m goin’ out there tonight and see for myself. If it’s there then I’ll take my cut, and them morons can do what they want with the rest of it.”


Chapter 14