Silence of the Lamb's Wool (A Yarn Retreat Mystery) by Betty Hechtman

she could stay in touch with her kids.
    “A piano,” Olivia said, walking over to it and hitting a few of the keys. “What a nice idea.” I mentioned I’d heard there were going to be sing-alongs in the evening.
    Scott had already set his briefcase on the long table and pulled out one of the chairs. “What a perfect spot for knitting.” I know that I shouldn’t have, but I still did a double take when he took out a ball of powder blue yarn and a pair of circular needles with something lacy hanging off. There was nothing wrong with a man knitting; it just wasn’t the usual sight.
    Still, when I saw the happy look on his face as he began working the needles, anything weird went away.
    “I better tell them I arrived,” Bree said. I knew the “them” referred to her young sons and her husband. She was better than last time, but I could see she was still nervous about being away from home. Before I could intervene, she had her cell phone out and her fingers were moving over the screen. She stared at the phone and started to move toward the window.
    “It won’t help,” I said, putting my hand on her arm to stop her. I took a deep breath and explained the new policy of Vista Del Mar to the three of them. Bree’s face crumbled. Olivia said it was no problem for her because there was nobody she wanted to talk to anyway. It took a moment to cut through Scott’s bliss at knitting and then he seemed a little concerned.
    “It’s not that you can’t make phone calls,” I said, leading them around to the alcove where the three phone booths had been added. I unfolded the door to one and Bree looked in. I wondered if she’d ever even used a pay phone before.
    Will walked across the large room with a hammer swinging from his tool belt. When he saw us hanging around the phone booths, he came over.
    “So somebody is going to use them,” he said in a good-natured voice. “I just finished installing them.”
    I introduced the caretaker to Bree, Olivia and Scott. “He keeps this place working.”
    He gave us a self-deprecating smile. “I love doing it. It’s a pleasure to take care of something as historic as Vista Del Mar. I hope you appreciate how unique it is.”
    “Will’s wife, Nicole, is supervising the fleece-to-fiber part of the retreat.” I did a few minutes on her background and told them about her store-cum-studio downtown. Will seemed to be beaming with pride as he wished them a great retreat and went on his way.
    “Nicole is giving you guys your own spinning class tomorrow morning,” I said. I gave them the time of the class and said it was one of the few things planned for their pre-retreat. I mentioned there were also activities put on by Vista Del Mar. “I made sure you were staying in the same building and there’s a cozy living room in it where you can get together and work on the projects you brought along.”
    “That sounds great,” Bree said. “Remember how I was so stuck on only doing projects that were the same as everybody else’s?” She pulled out something in different shades of red. As she unfolded it, she explained it was free-form knitting. “You just make it up as you go along, doing whatever stitches you want. It’s going to be a scarf and probably kind of crazy looking.” We all admired the interesting-looking piece as she said she was excited about working on it.
    “Don’t worry about us. If they run out of things to do, I have something,” Olivia said. “You all might remember I was a little upset about my husband getting remarried last time. I was doing a pretty good job of feeling sorry for myself. Then I realized the best way out of it was to stop thinking about me and think about other people.” She had a very large canvas tote bag and pulled a knitted square out of it. “I started making squares to sew together. Then I give the blankets to people in need. I made up some directions.” She looked at the other two. “Maybe you’d like to make some.” Olivia