“So shall we tell Mike?” Michelle asked.

“Not yet. It’s all supposition at this point. We don’t have any proof.” Hannah turned to Andrea. “Can you locate Sally and ask her if Burke got any calls in his room on Wednesday morning? I’m sure she’s around here someplace.”

“I’m on it,” Andrea said, rushing off.

“And can you think of an excuse to find out who Burke’s agent is?” Hannah asked Michelle. “We can always call and ask when Burke was notified that someone else got the part.”

“No problem. Somebody’s bound to know. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to find Mother and get the keys to Granny’s Attic. We know that Burke didn’t have that prop gun on him when he left the building, so it’s just got to be hidden there somewhere.”

Hannah searched in vain for her mother. She’d seen her only minutes ago, but Delores seemed to have vanished. She even checked the ladies’ room, but the only person there was Winnie Henderson, who was standing in front of the mirror brushing her hair.

“Hi, Winnie,” Hannah said. “I’m glad you came to the party.”

“Connor brought me. He said the caterers cost more than one of my prize heifers and I owed it to my taste buds to come and eat.”

Hannah’s stomach growled. With all this excitement she’d forgotten to eat. “Sounds like a good idea to me. Have you seen Mother?”

“I saw her about ten minutes ago. She was just leaving.”

“Leaving?” Hannah glanced at her watch. “But it’s only eight-thirty.”

“Oh, she’s coming back. She just ran down to Granny’s Attic to make sure they were careful when they loaded the sewing machine on the truck.”

“What sewing machine?”

“The one they had on the living room set. You must have seen it. It was all the way in the corner, right next to the desk where you-know-what happened.”

Hannah remembered the sewing machine. The top had been down, with the sewing head tucked inside, and it had been covered with a large crocheted doily.

“Your mother was pleased as punch to sell it, ’specially because it went for a fortune.”

“It did?” Hannah was puzzled. “I thought that model was mass-produced by Sears, or one of the other big mail-order chains in the fifties.”

“You’re right, but that young actor from the film paid close to a thousand dollars for it. He’s having it shipped back to California.”

Now Hannah was even more puzzled. Why would Burke pay that much for a common sewing machine? Then her mind kicked into high gear and the truth dawned. Burke would pay through the teeth if he’d hidden something inside that perfectly ordinary sewing machine, something like the prop gun!