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

also had a couple of works in progress with her.
    “I can make squares or work on what I brought with me,” Scott said. “All I want to do is knit.” He said it was much better now that he’d come out and admitted to his wife and family that he was a knitter, but he realized he didn’t need to tell everybody. There was no reason his boss or other people who wouldn’t understand had to know he was a yarn lover. “But here, there is complete freedom to give myself over to it.”
    I was relieved with their attitudes. I showed them the Cora and Madeleine Delacorte Café and then walked them to the Sea and Sand building, where they were all staying.
    “See you in the morning,” I said as I turned to go. I didn’t add what I was thinking.
This time no one is going to die.

6

    Tuesday morning I awoke to find Julius draped across my chest, but at least there was no phone call this time. I didn’t rush to get up and enjoyed the luxury of lying in bed for a few minutes more.
    I’d finished off the evening doing my baking at the Blue Door. Even with the retreat, I had promised Tag Thornkill that I would keep to my regular schedule of baking. When I’d left the restaurant, a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting sat under glass domes looking delicious. I’d taken containers of The Blues muffins with me and left them at the usual spots around town. My last stop had been the Cora and Madeleine Delacorte Café. It had been late and the Lodge was empty when I set down the package in front of the closed door.
    Julius made it clear that my extra minutes of rest were up when he went from lying on my chest to standing on it. I rolled on my side to push off his poking paws. “You can’t be that hungry,” I said, putting on my slippers. “I left you that cat food that smells like prime rib.” Julius was already walking across the room, stopping in the doorway to see if I was following.
    When I got to the kitchen I saw the kitty prime rib appeared untouched.
    “You don’t know what you’re missing. This is high-quality stuff,” I said, pushing the bowl toward him. He seemed to consider it for a moment then walked toward the refrigerator, looking up at me with a meow to be sure I understood what he wanted. I extracted the multi-wrapped stink fish and then held my nose as I pushed back the layers of plastic.
    Julius rubbed against my leg as I went to his bowl and mixed a little stink fish with the other cat food to flavor it. Well, really to fool him. As soon as I stepped away, he was on that bowl like butter on popcorn.
    I sat down with my instant coffee and instant oatmeal and thought I should have got going earlier and had my breakfast with the early birds. The dining hall excelled at breakfast. Visions of hotcakes with melted butter, scrambled eggs and crispy hash browns danced through my mind. My mouth was starting to water and I regretted not having at least brought home one of the muffins. I’d been so busy baking for everybody else, I forgot about me.
    I drained my cup and finished the oatmeal. It was time to face the day. I had to laugh when I passed Julius’s bowl. He had managed to eat all the stink fish and leave all the kitty prime rib behind. His meal must have tired him out, because I found him napping on my pillow as I went to get dressed.
    An hour later I was on my way across the street to meet up with Nicole. I’d just gotten to the stone pillars at the entrance of Vista Del Mar when I realized I’d forgotten something. I was so focused on the early bird group and their tote bags, I’d completely forgotten I was getting a lesson, too.
    Other than the three I’d made up for Bree, Olivia and Scott, the tote bags weren’t finished. The bags and stuff to go in them were in the converted garage. I’d decided to keep them away from Julius after I’d found out the hard way that anything he could climb or jump in, he would. I could only imagine what he would