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"Who's Mr. Payne?"
"An actor. I figured why not rework the original plan?"
Quinn didn't miss the note of anger and resentment in her tone at the mentioning of Mr. Payne.
"What happened to him?"
It was surprise in those pale eyes before she said, "He grew very fond of Gabriel and you and was no longer of any use to me so he's dead."
It wasn't just that she killed him but the manner in which she offered the news, she really was insane. Quinn realized, with sudden clarity, that she wasn't going to live through this.
"Why Katherine?"
"So you do know. I probably didn't need the hair dye and contacts looking as I do but I didn't want to take the chance."
"Why are you doing this?"
"I love him. Loved him since we were kids, but he never noticed me. Then one day you walked into Brazen Head Pub and all it took was one look and he was lost. Completely and totally lost to you. Do you know what it's like to watch the one you love with another? I was forced to watch the courting, the engagement, the marriage, the children; it was the children that made me snap. I didn't mean to kill him. You, yes, I meant that, but not him."
"Our anniversary party," Quinn whispered.
"Yes, he came in right after I shot you and he was so enraged that I had to shoot him or he would have killed me. After, I realized what I had done but there I was standing over your bodies in the home of Archer and Morgan and the romantic tale of how you and Gabriel were really Archer and Morgan's souls that found each other again and that was when the idea formed."
"I didn't have a lot of time because it wasn't going to take long for the cops to figure out who killed you. I knew about the Mayan's theory, hell, everyone in the future did. I had spent a great deal of time looking into Tessa's research so I knew I could go back and fix what I had done," she said.
"I wanted someone to test it first though so I approached Constance and Derek, who were all too willing to take the ball and run with it. I didn't think it all through, didn't realize all the repercussions because there simply wasn't time for that. I did have the foresight to realize going back for Gabriel wouldn't change the outcome. But I realized if I went all the way back and had Archer fall in love with me," Katherine paused, "then the soul his would seek in the future would be mine and not yours."
"It didn't work though."
"No, Archer didn't want me, paid me no notice so I killed him which altered the future and still Gabriel didn't want me. I don't handle defeat well so I slipped back into the past again and tried a different tact to win over Archer and then you appeared. Like Gabriel, one look and he was yours. How the hell did you appear in the past, anyway?"
"I don't know. I was sent back," Quinn answered honestly.
Katherine snorted at that. "Explains why you didn't age. Look at me? As if Gabriel would want me now."
"You've caused so much pain, destroyed lives and dreams, just so you could force a man to marry you. A man who you already knew would never love you," The pain that exploded in Quinn's head when the butt of the gun nailed her in the temple caused her to stumble backwards, blindly reaching for something to balance herself.
"Well, he may not want me but he isn't going to have you either," Katherine's dire words hung in the air as she raised the gun, aimed and fired. The pain was searing as Quinn's hands immediately reached for her stomach where her white blouse was rapidly turning red.
"I won't kill him this time, just like our last little bout, and now he can mourn your loss again and spend the rest of his life grieving for you. With the Codex and the pendant destroyed, Constance and Derek's memories of time travel have been erased so no one can go back to fix what I've done. I warned you, Quinn, it never seems to end well for the women who link themselves to Archer or Gabriel."
Katherine's demonic laugh, a sound that was devoid of sanity, chilled Quinn. "I've grown rather tired of all this."
As Quinn watched, Katherine raised the gun, pointed it to her temple and smiled a tragic smile then pulled the trigger.
Quinn closed her eyes but she swayed and landed on her back, looking up at the ceiling, knowing that Katherine had killed her just as surely as she killed herself. A numbness settled into her limbs and her eyes grew heavy and then she heard the voice. She turned her head to see three figures in the doorway but it wasn't until the figures moved into the room that Quinn realized who they were.
"Maude, Colleen, Mrs. Hamston?"
"Quinn, we're so sorry."
"It was you, all of you, wasn't it?"
"Yes, we sent you back to save him from Katherine."
"And you sent Gabriel to me."
Maude looked down at her hands for a moment and when she looked back up there were tears in her eyes.
