Nemesis (Southern Comfort) Read Online Free PDF Page A

going to call me in.”
    “I’ll go,” Declan offered.  Better than being around all this forced joviality.  Terri, the h ot waitress he’d hired a few weeks ago, hit his face with confetti as she was passing. It was the second time in the past hour. Once more and he was gonna fire her ass, no matter how good it looked in tight jeans.
    Before Kathleen could comment or try to cheer him up again, Rogan shouted for clean glasses.
    Declan made his escape, dislodging the hat as he squeezed through the crowd.  It was immediately crushed underfoot.  His hands slipped on the hard plastic tub, and he tried to pretend the heat was the cause of his sweating. That the garish display of revelry wasn’t making him sick. 
    A noisemaker blared, and his heart skipped. 
    The next person who tried to put him in a party mood, he’d provide the homicide for his sister to investigate.
     
    KATHLEEN frowned as she watched Declan’s retreating back, and batted the Mylar balloon hovering in front of her.  It wobbled off toward the ceiling, and she scanned the crowd to avoid worrying over her brother.  He was only going to continue alienating everyone around him, just like he had for years.  She didn’t know why she bothered.
    The mix of familiar faces and tourists was growing rowdier by the hour, and Kathleen wondered if she’d make it to midnight.  Not that she resented her job, but there were times when it was damn inconvenient.  At least she was alone tonight and didn’t have to worry about disappointing a date.
    Which, come to think of it, was sort of depressing.
    Rolling her eyes because Dec’s bad mood seemed to be catching, Kathleen started toward the bar.  Her dad and brothers were swamped and probably wouldn’t say no if she offered to help.
    Cool air and moonlight spilled into the room from the front door, disturbing air that had grown thick with the press of humanity, and Kathleen watched for the new arrivals.  There were too many partygoers between her and the door to identify anyone readily, but when no discernible patron appeared she shook her head in disgust.  Earlier in the evening a customer had seen fit to bring in her miniature schnauzer. Despite the fact that Declan clearly informed the woman that a dog had no place in a food service establishment, Kathleen suspected she was attempting to smuggle the mutt back in simply because she wanted Dec to reprimand her again.  Probably with various parts of his body slapping against various parts of hers. 
    Why so many women lost their minds over his moody and broody routine was absolutely beyond her, but she guessed there was no accounting for taste.
    She edged through the crowd so that she could put the woman out of the misery that she had no idea she was in for.  Declan had a way of chewing up women and spitting them out, like a human Chipper, that was painful for a bystander to watch.
    “Ma’am,” she called out to the blonde, who was crouched over the schnauzer, scratching his ears.  “We already told you that you can’t bring your dog into the bar.”
    The woman turned her head.  “Is there a punch line here that I’m missing?  Maybe something having to do with a priest and a rabbi?”
    Kathleen drew up short.  The small blonde in the snug jeans and wildly impractical shiny red heels looked like none other than her personal phoenix of feminine friendship.  The kind of friendship that even years of separation didn’t manage to kill.  It may have withered a bit, suffered some burns, but it always rose from the ashes. 
    “Sadie Rose.  My God, is that really you?”
    Sadie’s little body softened with laughter as she rose to her full, if unimpressive, height.  “It’s really me, Kathleen.  But I swear I’ve never seen this dog!”
    With a squeal that would have embarrassed her had any of her coworkers been within earshot, Kathleen snatched the smaller woman into a crushing hug, sloshing beer down her back in the process.  “Oh, Sadie.