On the Avenue (26 page)

Park took it all in with her usual blend of composure and reserve. More than anything, she wished she could give some of her innate calmness to Madison, who was huddled on one corner of the couch, crying quietly. Park went to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She couldn't imagine how awful Madison felt. Despite the eternal feud between the Wests and the Hamiltons, Madison had truly fallen in love with Theo, and her pain at losing him—at having been betrayed by him—was heartbreaking to watch. Sitting there, Park felt a stab of guilt in the pit of her stomach. Should she and Lex have been more supportive of the relationship from the beginning? Maybe if they'd told Madison to follow her heart instead of her duties, none of this would be happening now.

“Hey,” Park said. “You can't go on crying forever. This will all be over soon.”

Madison sniffled. “I know you don't believe me, but everything that's going on, the way it's unfolding— it's so totally not Theo. I know him, and I just don't believe he lied to me and used me and then killed two people.”

Park didn't answer. There was nothing she could
say that Madison didn't already know. She watched as Madison got up and walked over to one of the large windows that overlooked Central Park, her footsteps heavy, her mannerisms sluggish.

“Even when we were together three weeks ago, Theo seemed so … genuine,” Madison went on. “We talked about a lot of things. We talked about college and how we both want to go to Princeton. He seemed fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “How could I have not noticed him stealing the dress from Lex's closet that day?
How?
”

“You were just caught up in the moment,” Park offered. “It's understandable.”

“What if Theo isn't missing?” Madison asked. “What if he's out there somewhere, falling apart, even thinking about hurting himself because he knows he can't get away from this mess?”

Park didn't answer.

“And you know what else I don't understand?” Madison turned to face her. “If Theo also killed Chicky Marsala, it means he came here yesterday, that he was downstairs at some point. Did he come here wanting to talk to me?”

Lex, sitting in a chair across the room, was still examining the photographs from Chicky Marsala's digital camera. Rapt in thought, she paid no mind to the television flashing a few feet away from her. Without looking up she said, “Do the math, will
you? Theo figured out that we had the camera. Chicky Marsala came here to get the camera back, and Theo came here making sure the camera wouldn't get into the wrong hands. They crossed paths, they had a confrontation, and Theo fried him—using a scarf he also stole from
my
closet that day he was here.” She sighed. “Stranger things have happened, and when people get desperate, they'll do just about anything.”

“That's
exactly
the response I expected from you, Lex,” Madison snapped. “You're always ready to point out Theo's bad points just because he's a West.”

“I'm sorry,” Lex mumbled, rolling her eyes. “I tend to point out a person's bad points when he's tied to two murders.”

“
Allegedly
tied to two murders!” Madison ranted, her eyes welling up again.

“You
have
to calm down,” Park told her gently. “Your makeup is a mess, and all that running mascara is totally going to make you break out.”

Madison bit down on her lip. “I don't even care what I look like anymore. I'm too upset to care. The
last
thing on my mind is my complexion.”

Lex gasped in shock. But, just as quickly, her shock turned to anger. “Don't you
ever
say something that horrible in my presence! Take a good look at the world out there, Madison. Without good complexions, we're nothing.”

Madison's shoulders slumped in a gesture of defeat. “Sorry,” she mumbled. She quickly ran her fingers across her cheeks, wiping away the residue of watery makeup.

“You're doing that all wrong.” Park got up, grabbed a tissue box from the coffee table, and walked across the room to where Madison was standing. She whisked several tissues into her hand, then began dabbing them gently along Madison's cheeks. “Quick, easy pats,” Park said. “Otherwise, all that gook will clog your pores. Your next facial would take, like, three hours.”

Madison nodded, trying to hold back her tears.

Lex got up as well. Hands on her hips, she circled her sisters like a stylist in the critical ten seconds that preceded a photo shoot. Then she stepped behind Madison and began working her fingers through Madison's hair. “A nice French twist will cheer you up,” she said. “Park, go into my bedroom and get my styling tools.”

“No,” Madison replied quietly. “Really, I don't think now is the—”

“Why not a chignon?” Park asked. She grabbed a new wad of tissues and, with the tip of her forefinger, began working it around the edge of Madison's lower lip. “Let's do something more dramatic. Like a chignon.”

“Ugh.”
Lex made a sour face. “That's
so
New
Jersey prom night. Maybe we should do some red highlights—”

Suddenly, Madison's cell phone rang loudly, shattering their banter like a gunshot. They all jumped at the sound.

“Dammit,” Lex mumbled, letting go of Madison's long locks.

Whirling around, Madison ran to the coffee table and picked up her phone. It had only rung twice, announcing the arrival of a text message.

Park stood up and hovered over Madison. Lex followed.

“It's from a restricted number,” Madison said. “It's got to be the same person who sent us the previous two messages.”

“But this time, the person only sent it to you,” Lex pointed out.

Madison flipped open the phone and the message came into view.

IT'S THEO. MEET ME AT THE CORNER OF 110TH STREET AND 1ST AVE IN HALF AN HOUR. PLEASE? I'M SORRY
….

Madison gasped. “Oh, Theo,” she whispered.

“Forget it!” Lex shouted instantly. “There's nothing he can say to you on a street corner that he can't say in a police station.”

“Of course there is!” Madison shot back, closing the phone and pushing it into the pocket of her jeans. “Don't you see? He wants to explain everything to me. He doesn't want it to end this way.”

“Madison!” Lex's voice went rigid. “Wake up and come out of your love trance! He's trying to lure you somewhere so he can get what he wants and finish this whole mess.”

“That's not true! I know it's not true!” Madison covered her face with her hands.

“You're not actually thinking of meeting him, are you?” Park asked. She shook her head. “That would be crazy. And for the last time:
please
keep your hands
away
from your face!”

“I
am
meeting him,” Madison replied firmly. “He just wants to talk. He wants to tell me something. He wants to explain. No one's going to hurt me.”

Suddenly, Park heard a knock on the front door. She listened as Lupe answered it and ushered someone inside. A moment later, Clarence came into the living room.

“I just sent the last of the reporters away,” he said sullenly. “I told them you girls wouldn't be making any other statements. Believe it or not, the front of the building is pretty clear. Is…” He eyed the strain on their faces. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh, everything's just dandy,” Lex quipped. “Madison here wants to go and meet a killer in the dark.”

“What?”

Park explained the text message to Clarence.

Instantly, his eyes widened in shock. “Absolutely not!” he screamed. “At least not without me!”

“And me!” Lex echoed.

“And me too,” Park said quietly. “It's either we all go, or none of us goes. You can call the police and tell them everything, Madison, but you can't put your life in danger.”

Drying her eyes, Madison walked to the center of the living room and squared her shoulders. Looking at each of them, she said, “I am going to meet Theo in half an hour. Clarence, you can drive and accompany me—but that's it. I won't make a circus out of this. Whether or not you all want to hear it, Theo means a lot to me, and I know in my heart that there's a reasonable explanation for all that's happened. I'll talk to him, and then I promise I'll take everything to the police.” She paused, letting her words sink in. “Now that's my final word, and I won't discuss it anymore.”

Park sighed. She knew arguing would be useless. She shot a glance at Lex, whose eyes also registered defeat.

Five minutes later, they were all gathered in the elevator. They rode down to the lobby in silence. Madison had grabbed her purse and coat, and Park and Lex had done the same, despite the fact that they weren't leaving the building any time soon.

“I just want to go on record as saying that I'm
completely
against this,” Lex announced as they stepped into the lobby.

Madison turned to face them.

Park caught the longing in her eyes, the look that was equal parts desperation, fear, and hope.

“I have to do this,” Madison said quietly. “Not only for all of us, but for myself. Once I hear what I need to hear, I'll be able to put everything behind me. And I'll get the diamond back for us—for everyone.” She clutched her purse tightly. “I'll call you soon. We'll all go the police station together.”

Park nodded. She looked at Clarence, who was waiting by the front desk, the limo keys in his hand. “Watch her,” she said, an edge of warning in her voice.

Clarence nodded and gave her one of his you-think-I'll-hesitate-to-kick-someone's-ass-tonight? looks.

Holding her breath, Park watched as Madison exited the building, ran toward the limo, and disappeared into the night.

A tense silence fell; it seemed to fill the entire lobby, choking the air like smoke.

Park and Madison paced the reception area, unable to draw themselves away from the wide front double doors. At this point, Park didn't care if a stray reporter snapped a picture of her. She didn't care if
someone walked by and caught sight of her with her face pressed to the glass like a gawking child. She felt the hard thumping in her chest and kept telling herself that it would be okay, that Madison had done the right thing, that Theo wouldn't hurt her with Clarence there.

Outside, the night was clear and dark. Traffic wasn't crazy. She calculated that it would take Clarence about ten minutes to make it to the odd location Theo had asked Madison to meet him at. Why 110th Street and First Avenue? It was a pretty seedy area. Was that where Theo had run to, where he'd been hiding all this time in order to avoid speaking to the police? And what, she wondered, did he hope to gain from Madison?

“I can't stand this,” Lex said as she pressed herself up against the front desk, where the doorman, Steven Hillby, was glaring at her quietly. “I've never been so nervous.”

“Me either,” Park admitted.

Five minutes ticked by.

Ten.

Fifteen.

Twenty.

And then Park looked outside again and let out a frightened gasp.

A heavily clothed figure stood on the sidewalk just beyond the closed front doors. He was tall and lanky,
and only his eyes were visible beneath the wool cap that covered his head and the thick scarf wound over his mouth and nose.

Park froze. She felt Lex's hand close on her arm.

Who the hell is that?

The figure unwound the scarf and yanked the cap off his head as he took two steps toward them.

It was Theo.

Madison stared out the open window of the limo and watched First Avenue drift by. The wind felt good on her face, and as it whipped through her hair and down into her shirt, she realized that she was sweating. In fact, she was shaking. Her right leg was bobbing up and down nervously. Her fingers wouldn't keep still. She felt as if she were headed into uncharted territory, into the scary unknown—as if she were en route to Macy's or Kmart for the first time.

She turned and fixed her eyes on Clarence. He
was driving tensely, both hands locked on the steering wheel. He didn't shift his gaze to look at her in the rearview mirror. Madison was glad for the silence. She didn't know what to say or even what to think. Despite Clarence's presence, she was afraid of what might happen next. Not for a moment did she believe Theo would try to hurt her, but in his obviously desperate state, would he break down and beg her to help him? There was nothing she could do at this point except talk to him. All the money in the world couldn't erase what he'd done, and trying to understand his motives would only lead to more heartache.

She wouldn't let that happen.

She wasn't doing this to reestablish what was left of their impossible romance. She was doing this for herself, for her own peace of mind, and maybe even to look Theo in the eye and tell him how fucked up he was to have put her and Park and Lex through this.

“We're almost there.”

Clarence's voice broke her reverie. Nodding silently, Madison clutched her purse to her chest and took a deep breath. She glanced out the window, noticing how the landscape had changed in so short a span of blocks. The tall doorman buildings of the Upper East Side had given way to the shabby structures of a neighborhood that had witnessed too much crime and not enough caring. The streets were dark. Why on earth had Theo chosen this area? Did the
Wests own real estate here? Was he hiding out in one of these shadowy apartment buildings?

The limo came to a crawl as they approached 110th Street. Clarence hung a right and pulled up to the curb. “This must be it,” he said grimly.

Madison stared outside. She was looking at an abandoned warehouse that rose up at least three stories and stretched all the way to the next corner. Up along the top floor, several windows were either cracked or completely blown out. She saw no sign of lights or people anywhere.

She popped open the door and climbed out. Clarence emerged from the driver's side and immediately went to open her door. She stared at him. “Why don't you wait for me here?” she said. “If Theo sees that I've come with someone, he might not want to talk. Or he might even run away without doing anything.”

Clarence shook his head. “I'll walk you in, and if I think it's okay, I'll wait just outside the door. But you can't go in there alone.”