I vaguely remembered the piece. I’d been more concerned with the fog and keeping Miss Lavender Pants and her crew without a reason to make trouble. This time I paid attention as I read how Izabelle had taken the last glass of orange soda, which she didn’t really want, just to spite her sister.

“Izabelle was certainly mean-spirited,” I said. “Judging by the fact that her ex doesn’t even know the sister’s name, I’m guessing they’ve had no relationship for a while. They probably had no relationship when they got older.” I glanced at the notebook again. “What should we do with this?” Dinah decided to keep it for the time being. She wanted to know about my evening out, and I thought her eyes would fall out when I told her about seeing Nora and Bennett at the resort.

“It figures she’d be happy at a posh resort, since that’s where she thinks they really belong. How did CeeCee ever get him to stand in for her this weekend?” Dinah asked.

“I’m still trying to figure that out. I heard him make a comment about getting some kind of payoff for doing it. We’ll have to ask CeeCee when she comes up here.”

There was a lull in our conversation after that, and it took Dinah all of about two seconds to figure out there’d been more to my time with Mason than I had mentioned. Of course she got me to tell her about his invitation and what it meant.

“Nothing is going to change,” I said. “Mason had his chance before, and now it’s too late.”

“Are you so sure?” Dinah asked as she headed to the door. I was sure, wasn’t I? When she’d gone, I tried to call Barry to smooth things over, but I got his voice mail. I hated to admit it, but I was relieved. There was no way I could explain the dinner with Mason that wouldn’t upset him. I was too keyed-up to sleep. I had gotten the pattern for the pouch purse and some yarn. I did the foundation row for one side and then began to do rows until my eyes got heavy. When I finally went to bed, instead of counting sheep, I counted suspects.

The next morning I caught sight of the sky as I looked out my window. It was white, and I got worried about another fogout, but as soon as I realized I could see the administration building at the bottom of the hill, I relaxed.

No time to loll under the covers. I threw them back and dashed across the cold floor to the bathroom. I showered quickly and pulled on sweats and was out the door. Dinah stepped into the hall, similarly dressed, at the same time. Mason was already on his way down the stairs.

He had pulled a heavy gray hooded sweatshirt over his tai chi outfit and carried his boom box. He waited at the bottom of the stairs for us, and we headed for the beach together.

Even with the chill and early time, a nice-sized group showed up. No Nora and Bennett this time, but Jeen and Jym Wolf, the knitting couple, came.

Mason began by telling the new people to follow along and not to worry if they didn’t get it exactly. Jym interrupted and asked if there was a handout detailing the particular moves.

“I looked into it. They have wonderful names like Wave Hands Like Clouds and Grasp the Bird’s Tail,” Jym said, speaking to the gathered group. He turned back to Mason and said the proper way to teach was with verbal instructions. I knew Mason was annoyed by the comments, but he hid it well and thanked Jym for his input, then turned the music on and began.

The Wolfs stayed, but they had matching exasperated expressions that only got more pronounced, as they couldn’t keep up with Mason’s movements. Jeen stopped altogether and tapped her husband’s arm, making it clear she was going. With a last look of disapproval, the two headed off down the sand. Sheila arrived, nodding in apology to Mason. I saw her check out the group, and when she realized there was no Adele, her shoulders relaxed. Sheila joined right in and already seemed to be picking it up.

I loved Dinah’s take on the tai chi. She was into the music, and even with its ethereal feel she was moving in time to it and throwing in a dash of attitude.

Everyone scattered after Mason’s final move of making a door out of his hands, opening them and stepping forward, which marked the end of the routine. Dinah and I headed back, leaving Mason surrounded by enthusiastic retreaters. I was glad he was getting some positive attention for his efforts after Jym’s remarks.

“I want to check my workshop room for my pen,” Dinah said when we were back in the Asilomar grounds. As we headed up the path, we passed Commander Blaine’s meeting room. The lights were on, and when we stopped by the open door, I saw that he was busy setting up cooking supplies. His silver hair was perfectly smoothed back, and like his other pants, today’s khakis had sharp creases. He waved at us, but the warm smile was all for Dinah. I wondered if she realized the smile she gave back. No matter how much she objected, the quality of her smile said he had a chance.

When we reached the knitters’ room, Jeen was arranging some yarn on the long table. I stopped in to find out about her abrupt tai chi departure.

Before I could speak, she began. “I’m speaking for my husband and myself when I say this. If you’re going to teach something, you have to map it out. You have to provide a handout with details of what you’re going to teach. Then do a demonstration while explaining what you’re doing verbally. You can’t just stand there and do it and tell people to follow along. Imagine if I did that with knitting.”

She showed me the handouts explaining casting on, and more with instructions how to knit and purl. “Here, let me show you,” she said, handing me a pair of green metallic needles and a ball of moss green yarn. She pointed to the handout with directions and then began to demonstrate how to do her favorite method of getting the yarn on the needle.

“I want to thank you and Jym for doing so well this weekend. What with the fog emergency and then Izabelle’s death, well, things haven’t exactly been going as originally scheduled.”

After casting on only a few stitches, Jeen laid down the yarn and needle she’d been demonstrating with. “It hasn’t been the weekend we expected by any means, but Jym and I are good at going with the flow.” I almost choked at her comment. Going with the flow? Was she nuts? I hid my reaction by appearing to admire her Needle Mania tee shirt. I sputtered out a compliment, and she beamed a stiff smile and thanked me. As before, the tee shirt was tucked into the jeans that hung loosely on her angular frame.

“It’s so sad about Izabelle. How, exactly, did you know her?”

Jeen regarded me with an inscrutable expression and seemed to take her time gathering what she was going to say. It made me wonder-was she taking time because she had something to hide, or because she was such a precise person she wanted to get the facts exact?

“We worked together a while back at The Yarn Source.” Jeen picked up the needle and yarn and once again began demonstrating casting on. She barely looked at her work as she talked. I was familiar with the Tarzana yarn store. It had been the original home of the Tarzana Hookers until it closed down. That was when Mrs. Shedd invited the crochet group to meet at the bookstore. Dinah and I hadn’t joined until after the move.

“I didn’t realize you were that close. Then her death must have really been a shock.” Adele and I had our differences, but if something had happened to her, I would have been a lot more emotional than the woman in front of me. And, I reluctantly admitted to myself, I would have missed her.

“It was quite a while ago, and we weren’t close. Izabelle never got close to anybody. I was already an accomplished knitter when I started at the store. On the other hand, Izabelle was a newbie at crochet, not that it stopped her from coming up with a plan. She had decided crochet was her golden ticket. I don’t know how she did it, but by the time she left The Yarn Source, she’d come up with A Subtle Touch of Crochet.”