Page 107 of Beaches, Bagels & Babes
“You know why your uncle and I get along? We’re both traditional. Everything I’ve done has been for family.”
“I’mfamily,” Candace argued, and Daisy heard real pain in her voice. “All he had to do was accept me for who I am.”
“Selfish as ever. It’s not all about you. Mr. Perry, see, he understands… sometimes, family as an institution trumps blood. Here in Wonderwood, we’re making a place for therightkind of family. If I have to get my hands dirty, I’ll be aman and do it. You and the DeMarcos, those annoying, hippy Panopouloss, gays and gender-whatevers—don’t belong here.”
Daisy surged a step, yelling, “Who the fuck are you to decide? All you assholes say the same bull and act like Wonderwood is falling apart… No shit, a lot of places are for a lot of different reasons. You’re sure as hell not helping.”
Lamarka shifted his aim to Daisy. She gritted her teeth and did her best to not give him the satisfaction of showing the fear that jolted her insides. The man took a few strides closer, gesturing at Daisy with his piece.
“Right now, I’m the one with the gun. On your knees.”
With no other choice, Daisy complied. She grimaced as the rough concrete pad bit into her skin.
Candace rushed forward, only to stop dead in her tracks as Lamarka turned the pistol on her. She threw her hands up and dropped Horace’s bucket straight down with a plunk beside Daisy. Despite the waver in her voice, Candace mocked him.
“So, what? You’ll murder us, and tie things up for him in a neat, little bow? Go home to Sue and the kids, pretending to be such a nice, family man after you wash the blood off your hands? Is it really that easy for you?”
The man shrugged.
“It’s never easy. I’ve had to extort the coroner to play nice. There’s usually someone who gets suspicious and needs bribing. And don’t get me started on getting rid of the bodies. Thankfully, the ocean should take care of that last part. Reminds me of your parents going over that bridge, DeMarco.”
The man looked down at Daisy as he finished speaking. His words, their implication, fell over her like an icy mantle. In a horrified murmur, Candace put the pieces into place.
“You don’t mean… What happened to Daisy’s parents wasn’t an accident, was it?”
“They really should have sold. Mr. Perry came to them with a good offer, and they were ready to accept. Something about downsizing to fund their daughter’s college tuition.”
“What…?”Daisy blinked, shaking her head. “But they neversaid…”
As she thought back, she recalled working more hours as her parents went to ‘appointments.’ They mentioned making changes over the next year. Daisy always thought they were going to have her take over the business, not getridof it. A tornado of regret and bitter realization ripped through her emotions.
“The paperwork was all but signed,” he went on. “But, when the DeMarcos heard about Mr. Perry’s future plans to build a world-class resort, they reneged on the deal and decided to look for more ‘environmentally conscious’ buyers. Mr. Perry was very disappointed.”
“So you killed them,” Candace concluded with a crack in her voice. “You destroyed a beautiful, loving family because they wouldn’t do what you wanted. You had access to everything. All you had to do was forge the dates and signatures to make it look like my uncle made the purchase before their deaths. Between his friends in the county clerk’s office and the PD, he had all the right angles to slip a shady deal like that through. Daisy, I’m so sor—”
As Candace reached to comfort Daisy, Lamarka cocked his gun. She sucked in a bracing breath. “You’re monsters.”
“I told you before: it’s just business, Candy.”
“You’re not very good at it if it’s taken you all this time. You deserve to fail.”
“These kinds of projects don’t happen overnight. The pier was hit hard during Hurricane Sandy, and for years, the town’s politics were more split. Now, things are different. Funding from the Solid Rock Group was the final piece. Although the rent Ms. DeMarco here has paid over the years has been greatly appreciated. We–”
Daisy had enough. Out of the corner of her eye, inside Horace’s bucket, she saw the screwdriver Candace used to free her from the pier office. In a viper-fast snatch, she grabbed it and thrust the shaft into Lamarka’s foot.
“Appreciatethat!C’mon!”
Lamarka flailed in pain. While he struggled to pull the screwdriver free, Daisy and Candace took their chance to run deeper into the Manta Coaster loading depot.
“This wa—woah!”
Daisy staggered back as a“Are you tall enough to ride?”sign flew past like a spear-toss. It landed in the wall right in front of her with a reverberating twang. Candace ended up further ahead, towards the ride operation booth. Lamarka bull-rushed right behind Daisy. He tried to shoot her, but missed. The bullet ricocheted off a metal line divider that Daisy ducked behind and went wild, almost hitting the man himself. She tried to lose him between the lone coaster left on the track.
Unlike the little, sit-down Mouse Kart, the Manta Coaster was a big, top-down contraption that latched onto its riders like a claw crane. With five cradle-like seats across, six rows down, it rocked back and forth at the wind’s violent pull. Daisy wove around the seats, narrowly avoiding Lamarka’s reaching grasp.
“Shit!”
Daisy’s ankle caught in a gap in the floor grating. She managed to pull herself free, but it gave Lamarka time to catch up. Sandwiched between two seat rows, with a barrier rail blocking her rear, Daisy was trapped.
