Pauline Byrne (Murder, She Wrote)

Pauline Byrne (Susan Blakely) is the main villainess from "The Error of Her Ways," episode 6.04 of Murder, She Wrote (airdate October 15, 1989). She is an investor at Golden Palms Bank, and she was involved with fellow investor Clark Randall, who was married. 
Clark had stolen $3 million from the bank, and just as Pauline drove to the Randall house, she heard him arguing with his wife, Marian, with Clark stating that he was leaving her. The argument ended with Marian shooting Clark in a fit of rage, just as Clark grabbed the briefcase (which had the stolen money) from her. Pauline later entered the home and found Clark still alive, and it was there that Clark told her about the money; a detail that Pauline didn't know about until that moment. Instead of calling an ambulance for Clark, Pauline grabbed a throw pillow and smothered him to death, while making off with the money. With Marian passed out, Pauline left her to be accused of killing her husband.
Pauline's scheme began to unravel when Marian, believing that she killed Clark, set up the scene to look like a thief broke in and robbed him. Marian took Clark's watch and left it in the possession of a homeless man who hocked it, and she later hired a PI to find the watch. That and the embezzlement going public put Pauline in fear that Marian would figure out the truth about everything, and with that in mind, the evil Pauline killed Marian to keep her quiet, poisoning Marian's drink with Nardine--a prescription drug Pauline had been on for seven years.
Pauline was revealed as the killer when her name was found on a contract from a rent-a-car place, as Clark got her to rent a car while getting Kay Weber to purchase tickets for Pauline and Clark to leave the country. The villainess was arrested for murdering Clark and Marian, and later confessed everything to Jessica Fletcher and Lt. Hanna; stating that she thought that she would get away with it.
== Trivia ==
* This was the first of three villainous appearances on Murder, She Wrote for Susan Blakely. She later appeared on Season Seven as the villainous Christina Hellinger, and on Season Ten as evil reporter Joyce Hacker.
Category:1980s
Category:Adulteress
Category:Blonde
Category:Business Suit
Category:Business Villainess
Category:Greedy
Category:Live Action Villainess
Category:Murder: Poison
Category:Murder: Suffocation
Category:Murderer
Category:Thief
Category:Villain's Lover
Category:Villainous Reveal
Category:Fate: Arrested