Read On the Avenue for Free Online

gala, and began powering down the wide empty hall.
    Lex and Coco followed.
    Jeremy grabbed Park's hand and pulled her into a jog.
    And the paparazzo gave chase. “Stop!” he shouted. “You kids! Stop! Give me my camera!”
    “Keep going!” Coco yelled.
    Lex threw a glance over her shoulder. “He's gaining on us! Hurry!”
    Madison was ahead of the pack. Holding the camera in one hand and lifting the ends of her gown with the other, she ran as fast as she could. Up ahead, the wide hallway was cordoned off by red velvet ropes, blocking entrance to another wing of the museum.
    “Where are you going?” Coco called out.
    “I don't know!” Madison yelled back.
    Just then, two uniformed security guards came out from behind the ropes. “What's going on here?” one of them shouted.
    Madison ground to a halt. She looked back andsaw Lex and Coco dashing toward her. Park and Jeremy were clumsily trying to outrun the crazed man, who looked like a little bull as he got dangerously close to them.
    The security guards began making their way over to Madison. Tightening her grip on the camera, she dodged them and made a sharp right turn down an adjacent corridor.
    “Freeze!” the guards said in unison.
    Park ran past them with a flurry of her hand. “I apologize for the commotion,” she said. “We're just having a little trouble. Thank you for your concern.” She nearly tripped when Jeremy yanked her away from the guards and forced her to pick up her pace.
    “In here!” Madison finally shouted.
    Park kept her eyes on Lex and Coco, watching as they followed Madison through an open door and into what looked like a pitch-black room. Before plunging inside, she caught sight of the bull-man and the guards barreling toward them. “Where are we going?” she asked Jeremy.
    “Does it matter?” He pulled her over the threshold and out of sight.
    It was like slipping into a dark, silent cave. The voices shouting at them from the corridor dissipated, and Park heard Madison and Lex panting nearby.
    “Where the hell are we?” Coco asked, her voice echoing through the blackness.
    Leaning into Jeremy, Park sniffed the air. A musty odor pervaded her nostrils.
    “Somebody find a damn light!” Lex said. “I can't see a thing!”
    “Stay calm,” Park ordered. She reached out her hands and took several small steps forward. She bumped into Madison, then pushed past her and felt along the wall for a switch. Finding one, she flicked it up.
    Light blasted the space. It was a big rectangular coatroom, jammed with blazers, jackets, and several poufy furs. Sweaters and boots were strewn across the floor. The sudden hum of overhead air-conditioning vents cut through the silence as a cold draft swept over them.
    “Oh, great!” Lex cried. “We're trapped in here. They'll find us in a second!”
    “What did you expect me to do?” Madison shot back. “I couldn't just keep
running
.”
    They would have continued bickering, but Coco's high-pitched wail pierced the air like a knife.
    She was standing a few feet away from them, in a small clearing beside an empty coatrack. Her mouth was open. Her hands were trembling. And her eyes were locked on the horrible sight that lay before her.
    It was a woman's body. She was on her back, legs bent and arms outstretched. Her lips were frozen in an ugly grimace. Her skin was blue-tinged. Aroundher neck was a thick black scarf, wound so tightly that her head looked as though it might pop off any second.
    Park went to Coco's side. Her hands flew to her mouth in shock. “Oh. My.
God!
”
    Madison, standing speechless not three feet away, nearly fainted. She stumbled back and into Jeremy's waiting arms.
    “She's totally dead!” Coco said. “Murdered!”
    Lex shrieked. She held Champagne against her chest, then forced herself to stare. Her eyes widened in disbelief as they traced over the woman's short black hair, straight nose, and lean body. “It's Zahara Bell!” she screeched. “Oh, my God! Someone's