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"Yes," he replied.
"The Foundation must have copies. Has anyone, outside of Derek's team, reviewed them to see what it was he found that made it worth the time and expense to dig where he's digging?" Quinn continued.
"Based on the findings, it makes no sense why he's digging where he is, why he is consistently digging four kilometers from the castle in each cardinal point. It's as if he knows something no one else does."
A thought popped into Quinn's head and she grinned. "It's very much like a little kid's game of finding buried treasure. You know, walk twenty paces and X marks the spot."
She could see them doing it too. Archer, Thaddeus, little Nickie leading Derek on a wild goose chase for buried treasure. Did they know what treasure he was after? Had they figured out the mystery?
"What are you thinking?" Gabriel asked her.
"I think someone just may be pulling a con on the con-artist."
A few nights later Quinn invited Gabriel over so she could pick his brain about what else he had learned while working at the Scarcliff Foundation.
She had gone back in time, somehow, and had spent those wonderful months with Archer, Nicholas and Thaddeus. They weren't figments of her imagination and though she wasn't at the point where she could read about how they spent the rest of their lives, knowing that they had lived was a great comfort to her.
Ever since the dunking tank, Quinn couldn't get the idea out of her head that maybe there were other things left for her in the castle or just outside of it. Suddenly, she remembered Morgan O'Cuinn's grave -- or lack thereof.
"Quinn, are you still with me? You look completely zoned out."
She saw humor in his expression when she lifted her face to his. "Sorry. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Have you found any records on Morgan O'Cuinn? More specifically, where she's buried?"
"Not records, no. But then with the mystery surrounding her death, it's not really surprising."
That got Quinn's attention. "Mystery? I thought she died in childbirth?"
"What makes you say that?"
Oh, she wasn't going to go there...not yet! "It was very common for women to die in childbirth so I just assumed that was what happened to her."
"She survived childbirth but it wasn't long after that her body was found on the river bank near the castle."
Quinn went completely still at that announcement. Gabriel reached for her hand. "What is it?"
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"The lack of information piqued my interest so I paid the O'Cuinn family a visit in Ireland," he said casually.
"There's still O'Cuinn's?" Quinn almost exploded.
"Yeah. And I have to say, the story they told me was really so far out there that I was certain they were making it up. But now I'm not so sure."
"What did they tell you?"
Gabriel brushed his finger over her knuckles before he suggested, "Maybe it would be best to let them tell you."
Quinn nearly jumped up from her spot on the sofa to go pack but stopped short and asked, "They wouldn't mind the intrusion?"
"Not at all. In fact, I know they would love to meet you," Gabriel offered cryptically.
"Why?"
"And spoil the surprise? No way."
