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"Look, I wanted the treasure but I never wanted to get wrapped up in murder. Even had I not gone back, the events would have still played out. But something had to have triggered it because the future, before Constance and I traveled back, was very different. Morgan and Archer had lived their entire lives together, had several more children, so why the sudden plot to kill Morgan?"
Quinn leaned back in her chair as Cole spoke what she was thinking, "We thought you triggered the events."
"No. And neither did Constance."
Nick stood and started to pace. "What the hell? Something had to have triggered it; someone wanted to change the past to alter the future. But who?"
Gabriel spoke from his spot against the wall. "I think that's the important point." He looked to Quinn and she noticed that there was something different about him, something dangerous. She had the sense that what he said wasn't all that he was thinking. "Katherine instigated it so I think it's fairly safe to say that she may have spent time in the past. But I would bet my bank account that Katherine came from the future. Tessa's research goes public in the future and many, including the USA and Chinese governments, invest billions into research to be the first to make time travel mainstream."
"So it's possible that Katherine learned the secret and sent herself into the past," Cole summarized.
"Yes," Gabriel confirmed.
"But for what purpose? What's her motive?" Charles asked.
"Okay so, if she can travel through time then did she really hang for her crimes in Archer's day? And if not, where is she now?" Quinn asked but the question was answered with silence.
"So what's up with you digging all around my property?" Nick asked Derek pointedly.
Derek stood and reached for something on his book case then turned and handed it to Nick. When Nick opened the file, he saw the old parchment with what looked like a treasure map drawn in a child's hand.
"What is this?"
"I found it. I had buried some of Archer's valuables but someone replaced them with rocks, which I obviously didn't learn about until I came back to the present." He looked at Quinn but it wasn't anger in his expression, only a reluctant humor. "Anyway, I went back to the spot where I had buried the stuff in the past hoping I had missed one and found this. Despite the hand that drew the map, there are notations along the sides written in a primitive sort of shorthand that alludes to the whereabouts of the Scarcliff treasure. I started digging immediately but since I wasn't entirely sure in what direction, I dug in the correct distance in every direction."
Quinn walked over to study the map and laughed out loud as soon as she saw that it had been Nickie and Archer. To think of them, so proper, playing a joke on someone from the future! It was subtle but silly and so very much like them.
"Clever boy, Nickie." She looked up into Nick's face. "You are very much like him."
He reached for her hand and squeezed before he whispered, "Thank you."
"Why did you come see me at the Foundation?" Gabriel demanded of Derek.
Derek's face turned serious. "The accident, the one that put Quinn in the hospital, it wasn't an accident." He turned his attention to Quinn.
"How did you go back in time?"
"I don't know. I was sent."
He pulled a hand through his hair as he started to pace. "Unreal is what it is."
"What do you mean it wasn't an accident?" Gabriel bellowed.
"I came back to see Quinn at Whispering Winds a few days after I left her and when I found her stuff but not her, I knew she had somehow gone back in time. I followed her but I didn't do it to be chivalrous -- I wanted the treasure. When everything started going south, I went into hiding until I could jump back. The next thing I know Quinn and I are in London getting ready to head for Whispering Winds as if the previous months never happened. I don't know how the hell that happened but it freaked me out. Anyway, I was a bit out of it so it wasn't until later that I realized the car that hit us, I swear it was aiming right at us. Since the accident, I've had the sense that I'm being followed which is why I rarely leave my apartment. And when I do, I make a spectacle of myself so everyone is witness to my comings and goings."
Derek looked back at Quinn. "If they're following me, they are no doubt following you, too."
"But who is it? Who tried to kill us?" There was a note of desperation in Quinn's voice.
"I don't know," Derek answered honestly.
Quinn looked over at Gabriel who remained silent but she knew that he was thinking a great deal.
"I guess we're done here. Thanks for explaining, Derek," Nick said as he started for the door.
"I want to help so anything I can do, please let me know."
Gabriel helped Quinn to her feet and they headed for the door behind Nick but Derek's voice stopped them.
