* * *

   I headed for the alley that Brody and Roxy had walked into, which was one of several that ran between the storefront blocks that made up the two sides of Main Street. A few of the performers were leaving the alley and heading back out to the street, and they all gave me the stink-eye as they passed me. It made me feel as though I were still back in Ashland, still back at the Pork Pit, being glared at by the underworld bosses while I served up barbecue. Always popular, yep, that was me. Making enemies wherever I went.

   I ducked my head and hurried on. Just before I reached the end of the alley, I glanced back over my shoulder, but no one else was in the corridor, so I sidled up and peered around the corner, staring out into the space beyond.

   A large square had been converted into a break and staging area for the performers and shows. A series of open-air wooden pavilions spread out across the square, each one a different station. Racks of cowboy, saloon-girl, gambler, and other costumes were lined up in one pavilion, along with several lit mirrored vanity tables so everyone could put on their beauty marks, scars, and other makeup to get fully into character. Metal footlockers for folks to store their personal possessions and clothes took up most of another pavilion. Still more supplies were housed in the other areas, everything from boots and high heels, to strongboxes full of fake guns and ammunition, to pickaxes, saws, and other tools, to lassos that were curled up like thick rattlesnakes in plastic barrels.

   The stagecoach that had been used in the high-noon show was also parked back here, complete with piles of luggage that had been lashed to the top. A dirt path led off to the right and over to a rusty red barn where the horses were kept, and the air smelled like manure, dust, and hay. A ten-foot chain-link fence topped with razor wire cordoned off the back of the square, and through the trees, I could see the dark blue surface of the lake glinting in the distance.

   Since the show was over, all the performers were back at their usual stations on Main Street, and the square was empty except for Brody, who sat in front of one of the ­vanity-table mirrors, peering at his broken nose. Roxy leaned against the side of the mirror, her arms crossed over her chest. Her lips quirked up into a smile as she watched the giant try to push his nose back where it was supposed to be. I slipped my phone out of my jeans pocket, set it to video mode, and pointed it at them.

   “That bitch,” Brody growled. “I can’t believe she broke my nose.”

   “Well, that’s Gin Blanco for you,” Roxy said. “From what Tucker told me, she just sledgehammers her way through life. Worse than a bull in the proverbial china shop. In this case, you just happened to be the china.”

   Roxy chuckled at her own bad joke. Brody gave her a sour look, which she ignored.

   He leaned forward and smiled at himself in the mirror. “Well, at least she didn’t get any of my teeth. I just had these babies whitened.”

   So Roxy was working for Tucker, just like I’d thought, and apparently Brody was too. I was glad that I’d busted the giant’s nose. My only regret was that I hadn’t hit him harder and made him eat his precious teeth like they were peppermint candies.

   I thought about palming a knife and confronting the two of them, but we were only a few dozen feet off the main drag. Their screams would be sure to attract unwanted attention. Besides, I wanted to get as much information as I could first. Because I still didn’t know what the point of all this was.

   It was obvious now that Tucker had arranged for Finn to receive the deed to Bullet Pointe, but why had the vampire lured us down here to the resort? Did he plan to somehow get Finn to sign the property over to him? Or did he want something else from us? Once I knew the answer to that, I could plan my next move and kill Roxy and Brody to my heart’s content. So I stayed quiet and still in the shadows in the corner of the alley, recording them with my phone.

   “How much longer do we have to make nice with these people?” Brody growled.

   “Until Tucker says otherwise,” Roxy said. “You know that.”

   The giant tossed his ruined, bloody bandanna onto the vanity table. “All I know is that we’ve been stuck here for the last two months in this stupid theme park, dressing up like stupid cowboys, and putting on stupid shows. And what do we have to show for it? Nothing.”

   Well, at least I wasn’t the only one who was frustrated by a lack of progress.

   “Ah, come on,” Roxy said. “Hanging around here has been fun.”

   “You’re just saying that because of your cowboy fetish.” Brody shook his head. “You actually like all of this cheesy Western stuff. The cowgirl costume, the aw-shucks attitude, playing sheriff, the whole shtick. You even had all your creepy animal heads shipped up from Blue Marsh so you could decorate your office with them.”

   Roxy shrugged. “I like souvenirs of my hunts. I’ve got a guy working on that black bear that I killed last weekend up in Cypress Mountain. It’s going in the corner, right next to my bobcat.”

   So she was a hunter, just like I’d thought when I’d seen all those poor stuffed animals in her office earlier. More than that, she liked to keep trophies of her deadly prowess.

   Brody snorted. “No, you just like killing things. And now you think that Gin Blanco is going to be your big-game prize.”

   Roxy grinned. “Absolutely. That bitch is already dead. She just doesn’t know it yet. And I’m going to be the one who finally puts her down for good. I would have done it outside McAllister’s mansion, but Tucker wanted her down here instead.”

   My eyes narrowed. My head stuffed and mounted on a wall? Never going to happen, sugar.

   “Yeah, McAllister, the guy you failed to kill,” Brody sniped. “I can’t believe he fooled you with a silverstone vest.”

   “Who thought he would be that smart?” Roxy muttered, her sunny disposition slipping just a bit. “Besides, Tucker just wanted him dead to prove a point to Blanco. McAllister doesn’t know anything important. Still, I’ll go back and finish him off after we get done with Blanco and her friends. Just for not dying when I wanted him to.”