Cayenne and the Diablo Kid (Excerpt from Episode One)
Silverbend, Colorado 1885, By Constance Cassinelli, Inland Empire Branch
(Condensed:) Cayenne, owner of the Loopy Dog Saloon, placed an urgent ad in The Silverbend Gazette begging for the protection of the mysterious Diablo Kid after the murderous Donovans shot up her place. He never showed up.
(Actual Excerpt:) There was a ruckus out back. Someone had tripped over the well placed tin garbage cans. Perhaps her people were watching the wrong entrance. A forceful pounding that attempted to break down the door quickly sent her clumsy new bartender, RJ, to his room behind the bar. He returned carrying a worn out holster and two Colt Lightening Double Action guns. He fumbled to get it buckled.
“No,” Cayenne pleaded. “Don’t try to be noble, RJ. Poor old Sheriff Bob was so very kind. And now, he is so very dead. P-l-e-a-s-e, stay behind the thickness of the bar for your safety.”
Donovan, the brute, with five new gunmen succeeded in busting down the back door. All had their Colt .45s drawn as they entered.
“Where is she? Come down here, you whore!” He demanded and spat on the floor.
“What is your problem?” Cayenne asked as she held tight to the sawed off shot gun concealed in the side folds of her silk skirt.
“I know Ida from the Big Moon Way Station area. We were sort-of married after quite a lot of resistance on her part. I told her that her father sold her to me. I own her. She ran off and I killed him. No one cheats Fats Donovan. Now I want my money’s worth. Come down, you whore!” He and his men began shooting at random toward the upstairs rooms.
“Stop that!” Cayenne screamed. “Stop that now before you kill someone!” She knew she was outnumbered but couldn’t permit anyone to harm her people. As she raised her shotgun and cocked it, the sound signaled one of the gunmen to abruptly spin around and aim his gun at her. Within seconds, she witnessed the most rapid gunfire that expelled six bullets from behind the bar. Fats and his five men lay dead.
“RJ?” She questioned with astonishment.
“Please, say no more. I just like being here,” he said.
Cayenne’s immediate thought was to protect him from being labeled a killer. “Ida, Fanny, Clara,” she called out, “quickly empty shot into these men. They were shooting at you. You had a right to return fire in self defense.”
“But they’re already dead,” Clara said a bit confused.
“Do it anyway… Ida, do you know who these men are?”
“Fats, and his brothers Scarf and Haide, I think. I don’t know the one with the deep scar on his cheek. I think they are brothers. The other one looks related. It is a bad family, a very bad family.”
“And you…” Cayenne whispered to RJ, “You are him, aren’t you?”
“I am tired. I just want to settle down in a peaceful town.”
Cayenne knew her awkward, temporary bartender was indeed the Diablo Kid. He did quietly come to her rescue after all. Now, he too was part of her family.
Constance Cassinelli’s first novel, Cayenne and the Diablo Kid, just came out.
Find it on Amazon.