Diana followed.
The place was pretty typical for a small, rural Wisconsin tavern. Pool table, dartboard, and a back room where a group of mostly retired men were playing cards. Sheepshead, from the sound of it. One older man sat at the end of the bar staring at the bartender, a good-looking woman in her later thirties with shockingly pink hair.
“What can I get you?” she called to them as they approached the bar.
“A few moments of your time,” Bobby answered.
She shot him a look that screamed pure annoyance. “I serve booze here, officer. Not time.”
Although Bobby had never set foot in the Doghouse before nor met Nikki Sinclair, he’d been told often enough that he looked like a cop to not be surprised she’d pegged him. “Detective with the sheriff’s department, actually. And lieutenant commander with the emergency response unit. Bobby Vaughan.”
“What do you want, Bobby? To drink, that is.”
“I’d like to talk to you about your ex-husband.”
Nikki narrowed her eyes. “Val Ryker put you up to this, didn’t she? Well, you can tell her I’m not talking to you or anybody. Now if you’re not going to order something, get out.”
Bobby ordered a pair of club sodas.
Nikki plunked their drinks in front of them and started collecting used glassware and running hot water into a sink below the bar. The scent of sanitizer rode on the steam, mixing with the general ambiance of stale beer and staler cigarette smoke. Leaning forward, Nikki plunged glasses onto spinning brushes in one of the sinks. Her blouse gaped open, displaying ample cleavage that bounced with each plunge. One of the main attractions of this place, if the guy sitting and staring at the end of the bar was any indication.
Bobby threw some cash next to their drinks and took a sip. “Have you ever visited your ex-husband?”
“In prison?” Nikki’s lips tensed. “Why the fuck would I want to do that?”
“You were once married.”
“And he made it clear he didn’t give a shit about me. That it was all about my sister, Risa.”
Diana planted herself on a stool. “You’re Nikki Dryden.”
“Nikki Dryden’s dead.”
“Nikki Sinclair,” Bobby supplied.
“Nikki Sin,” the guy muttered from the end of the bar. “Best tits in the state, back when she’d show ‘em.”
Nikki rolled her eyes. “You bet, Fritzie. Now take your beer to the back room. I’m talking with the grown-ups here.”
“Why? I ain’t doing—”
“You want that I should cut you off? Not let you back in here for a month?”
Grumbling, the guy took his beer and shuffled away.
Nikki focused on Bobby. “Why’re you asking about Eddie anyway? That Copycat Killer again?”
“You talked to Val last fall.”
“I didn’t talk to Val. I don’t want to talk to you either. I don’t want to fucking talk to anybody about Eddie ever again.”
“Please,” Diana said. “A woman has been kidnapped.”
“So, who's she, Bobby?” Nikki gestured in Diana’s direction. “Some kind of trainee?”
“This is Diana Gale.”
“Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”
“I was born Diana Dryden.”
Nikki’s eyes widened. She looked Diana up and down. “You the sick one? Or daddy’s little girl?”
Diana cringed. “Is that how he described us?”
“A few times. Which one?”
“I…” Diana squirmed on her barstool. “I suppose I’d be daddy’s little girl.”
“Have you seen him?”
“We just came from the prison.”
“Then what do you want with me?”
Bobby watched Diana out of the corner of his eye. “He implied he’s pulling the Copycat Killer’s strings. Claims he’ll help us find this next victim if Diana visits him every day.”
Nikki let out a bark of a laugh. “And what did you say?”
“What choice did I have?”
“For fuck’s sake, it never ends, does it?” Nikki gave Diana another up-and-down. “And I suppose you want some pointers? On convincing him to actually come through with his promise and help you?”
“I’d be grateful.”
“Ditch the bra and wear something low cut.”
Diana’s hand came up, covering her chest.
“We’re serious,” Bobby said. He was hoping Nikki would warn Diana away from visiting Dryden but so far it seemed she was more intent on trolling. “We need your help.”
“I’m helping.” Nikki went back to cleaning glassware. “This isn’t some nice guy you’re dealing with. He’s going to twist an innocent thing like you around his finger. Make you feel like you need to prove your love for Daddy. If you want to fight back, even a little, you got to use the weapons God gave you.”
Diana folded her arms across her chest and silently watched the spinning brushes and the rhythmic way Nikki scrubbed the glassware two at a time.
Douse, douse, douse, dip in the rinse water, set on the drain board.
Repeat.
Bobby tried to read Diana’s expression. She couldn’t actually be considering Nikki’s advice, could she?
“I have a recording of the visit,” Bobby blurted. “Would you watch it? Give us your insights?”
Nikki laughed. “My insights would be to tell you to change your name and never go back.”
There it was. What Bobby was waiting for. He watched Diana for a reaction.
She kept her focus on Nikki. “Listen, I know I’m way over my head. But I can’t just sit around while an innocent woman dies. Will you take a look at the video? Please?”
Nikki didn’t answer. Not for a long time. Bobby had nearly given up when she finished the last glass and flipped the bar towel over her shoulder. “I have a computer back in the kitchen. Will that work?”
Bobby nodded. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I’m not watching this thing without a drink in my hand, and I’m in the mood for scotch. Decent scotch. Hell, make it a bottle. And you’re buying.” She pointed to the other side of the pool table. “There’s an ATM over there.”
A few minutes later, Nikki sat in front of her computer, a glass in her hand and an exorbitantly expensive bottle of whisky beside her. Diana stood behind her, chewing on her lower lip.
About a quarter of the way through the recording, Nikki’s hands started to shake. She downed her drink in a few gulps and poured another.
At the halfway mark, she started tugging on her right ear.
It wasn’t until she poured her third drink that Bobby noticed the lobe was missing, and all that was left was a ragged scar in the crescent shape of a human bite.
When the video ended, no one spoke for a long time.
Bobby finally broke the silence. “What do you think?”
“That daddy’s little girl better start shopping for that low-cut tee. And make it tight enough to show her nipples.”
“Wait a second,” Bobby said. He grabbed the back of Nikki’s chair and spun her around to face them. “Didn’t you just say she shouldn’t go back?”
“If she’s smart. But I don’t think Eddie was kidding when he said there’s another woman out there. Piss Eddie off, bad things happen. And I can tell you for a fact that daddy’s girl refusing to play his game will piss him off big time.”
Diana
Diana stared out the window of Bobby’s car at the ridges and valleys, forests and fields whizzing by. She couldn’t get Nikki’s suggestion out of her mind. The idea of dressing that way to manipulate her own father was abhorrent. The fact that he was also a sexual sadist made it downright terrifying. “Nikki couldn’t be serious about that T-shirt business, right?”