 In London, blackmailer Alexander Sandsby demands his half but gets a blow on the head from Jeffrey Caldwell and perishes in arson. Cabot Cove is preparing for its annual Joshua Peabody day, this time with a TV documentary production; Jessica is reading the text, written by Bostonian hot-shot director Richard Hawkes, who won an Emmy 8 years ago, with a few historical corrections by her own hand. Jessica brings an ideal period prop, a music box, for repairs to clockmaker Thomas Godfrey, who finds the mechanism is jammed by a letter from George Washington dated September 12, 1780, calling the local hero a traitor who accepted enemy payment to cowardly surrender and threatening him with court-martial. Peabody s descendant Edith fails to convince Jessica and Seth to destroy it, raging it ruins everything for her family and the whole town; experts authenticate it s from the time of the Revolution, but if it s real why did Jodhua keep it, and if not, who made such a fine forgery and why? Hawkes refuses to take it on board until the university takes its final position, so producer Bob Kendall worries as they run heavily over budget. Edith is shocked to find someone gave the Peabody statue a noose and a sign  traitor . The annual reenactment of the Battle of Cabot Cove goes on, despite a bolting horse, but Hawkes refuses to wait for such time-consuming things as reloading. Producer Bob Kendall tells Hawks the studio has chosen another director; local production assistant Louise Peabody quits with him. Jessica gets a lesson in recording and editing technique from Scott Patterson, notably synchronizing picture and sound. Edith apologizes to Jessica, but Mort reports the letter was on a paper type used by George Washington and she runs off. Then there s a fire at the movie company s office; new director Amelia Farnum s corpse lies there, probably killed by a blow on the head; an antique pistol is missing. Sandsby s British killer approaches Hawkes, who is reinstated to finish the film and now wants to focus on the letter, but Jessica reports her idea was right to prove it a clever forgery: it has traces of 20th century mercury pollution. Jeffrey Caldwell is arrested after Scotland Yard confirmed he s a world class forger, denies any part in Sandsby s murder, but admits being hired by him to forge the Washington letter and claims to have seen Farnum s killer: Edith Peabody, under whose car seat the murder weapon is found, without finger prints. Jessica doubts her guilt and finds a very suspicious bit of sound track is missing, then Scott s tape recorder...