The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club - Book One by Ann Warner

heard of Erdradour before.”
    “Not surprising. Compared to Dewar’s, it’s
microscopic. It’s the only distillery in Scotland that still does
everything by hand. My husband brought back several bottles when he
went to Saint Andrews to golf.”
    Mac picked up the bottle and looked at the
label. “Hope he didn’t have to take out a second mortgage.”
    “Why do you say that?” Josephine said.
    “This Scotch is thirty years old. It must
have set him back a pretty penny. Guess I should have passed on
that second shot. Don’t want you accused of bribing a police
officer.”
    Josephine waved his words away. “Please,
have some more.”
    He shook his head. “As it is, you’re stuck
with me until I clear what I’ve already drunk.”
    We settled down to play. Mac won a hand and
so did I, but then Josephine wiped us all out with a series of
masterful bluffs. At least, that’s what I suspected when she
refused to show her cards after forcing the rest of us to fold.
    “That does it for me,” Mac said, pushing
back from the table.
    I glanced at my watch and was shocked to
discover it was after midnight.

    ~ ~ ~
    After everyone left, Josephine and I spent a short, peaceful night,
but I didn’t spend it on the couch.
    “That couch may be comfortable for sitting,
but not for sleeping,” Josephine said, offering me the other side
of the bed.
    We braced the front door with one of the
dining room chairs, but I thought it unlikely we had anything to
worry about. If there was any danger, I was sure Mac would have
arranged for Lillian to be guarded, and he would have spent the
night on Josephine’s couch himself. He seemed quite taken with both
Josephine and Lillian. I doubted he’d chance anything happening to
either of them.
    I lay awake for a time, thinking about what
Josephine and Lillian had discovered. Not only about Eddie and the
grocery thefts, but the larger thefts, if that’s what they
were.
    What worried me the most was that if there
was someone making off with residents’ valuables, then Josephine
could become a target. Her painting was too large for someone to
carry off surreptitiously, but I doubted that would stop a
dedicated thief, not once they discovered the painting was worth
millions.
    Eventually, my thoughts drifted back to the
evening just past, and smiling at the memory of Mac’s
exploding-doll story, I drifted off to sleep.
    In the morning, I awakened to the smell of
coffee. When I walked into the kitchen, I found Josephine chopping
onions and Lillian sitting at the table, watching.
    “My, you two are early birds.”
    “I hope we didn’t disturb you, dear,”
Josephine said.
    I blinked. Had Josephine really just called
me dear? A slip of the tongue, no doubt.
    “No. Not at all. I probably ought to go. I
think you’ll be fine as long as you stick together.”
    “And we do have our pull cords,” Josephine
said, referring to the emergency cords in each room that can be
used to summon help. “But don’t leave yet, dear. I’m making
omelets. I have onions, mushroom, zucchini, and cheese. Your
choice.”
    There was that “dear” again. Well, we had
slept together, after all.
    “All of the above would be delightful.” I
was too hungry to turn down Josephine’s offer.
    “That’s what I thought,” Lillian said.
“Would you like coffee or tea?”
    Lillian poured me a cup of coffee, which I
needed to wake up properly. After a couple more minutes at the
stove, Josephine set plates in front of us.
    “I’ve been thinking,” Josephine said,
turning back to the stove for the third plate. “We have to do
something about Eddie if we want to sleep at night. And you can’t
watch over me more than a night or two, Devi.”
    “I don’t mind, but it might cause problems
if it got out I was spending nights here. I’m sure Mr. Souter would
think something nefarious was going on.”
    “Well, it is,” Lillian said. “I’m convinced
someone is stealing from us. If we ask around, I expect we’ll