Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10)(102)

“Did Evie know about Batman, or did she just think she was married to Bruce Wayne?”

“I hate you,” D.D. informs me.

But I have a thought now. I have no idea if it’s any good or not, but I lower my cell briefly and check back in with Keith and Quincy.

“Hey, I have Sergeant Warren on the phone. We have a question. Has I. N. Verness gotten this dude to talk … product”—I hate the word even as I use it—“yet?”

“Getting there,” Keith mutters.

“Can you ask about a mutual friend?”

Both Keith and Quincy stare at me. “Who?” Quincy asks.

“Conrad Carter. He’s been using the dark web to conduct his own investigation into missing women. If this is all about human trafficking, and Jacob was using his name—I. N. Verness—to make connections on the web, then chances are he crossed paths with Conrad, right? That’s why Conrad was in the bar meeting Jacob. Because his username—um, Jacob called him Conner at the bar—and Jacob’s username had made arrangements.”

Keith nods.

“I. N. Verness hasn’t been logged on in six years. But Conrad was probably active right up till his death Tuesday night. So if we can establish what he was doing, who he last was in contact with, that may give us a bead on his killer, and maybe another connection with Jacob.”

Keith looks up at Quincy. She nods. He starts typing again.

“I think it’s the dark web,” I tell D.D. by phone.

“What’s the dark web?”

“Your connection. Jacob used it to perfect his crimes. Conrad used it to investigate crimes. Even Rocket Langley—I bet he’s on it, as well. Services for hire, right? He’s exactly the kind of vendor people on the dark web are looking for.”

“Rocket has some loose-brick drop-box system for making contact.”

“No,” I correct the detective. “That’s for getting payment. He’s not sophisticated enough for Bitcoin. But he has a smartphone, and he’s gotta get clients somehow, right? Why not have a local flyer, so to speak, on the world’s most invisible want ads?”

“It’s possible,” D.D. muttered. “Used to be the local hoodlum was just the local hoodlum. But for a kid Rocket’s age, the internet is simply one more tool in his pocket. Why not use it to find new and improved ways to make fire?”

I turn my attention to Keith again. “How hard would it be for an arsonist for hire to set up an account on the dark web?” I ask him. “I mean is it just like preparing a business ad, but … well, secret?”

“Getting established as a vendor would take some doing,” Keith reports from his seat at the dining room table. “For starters, there’s a wait list.”

This shocks me. “There’s a wait list on the dark web?”

“Absolutely. And quite a few hoops a buyer or seller must jump through. Remember, the goal is to be anonymous, but at the same time, vendors have to establish credit and credibility. You don’t want any idiot making promises they can’t deliver. Or conversely, buying services they can’t pay for.”

“How is this done?” I ask Keith.

“New buyers must establish escrow accounts to guarantee ability to pay. And references are used to guarantee a seller’s ability to provide services.”

“Criminal vendors vouch for other criminal vendors?” The dark web sounds stranger and stranger to me.

“Something like that.”

“Which means,” I say, “someone else must be checking these references, verifying the escrow accounts?”

“All websites have administrators, even illegal ones. For that matter, these encrypted forums where Jacob would’ve met other predators—each have two or three moderators who know one another in real life. They trust each other, which forms the heart of the chat room. They then network and mine prospective new members, demanding evidence of illegal behavior such as a digital copy of child porn, snuff films, etcetera. This makes all site members equally guilty and therefore equally protected. For all the cyber in cyberspace, it’s still a human system. You can’t just hang out, chat, or trade on the dark web. A real person has to vouch for you. A real-life administrator has to grant you access.”

I nod and feel it again—a tenuous connection forming, as delicate as the web I’m learning so much about. Conrad, spending year after year, hunkered over his laptop, dredging through the internet’s worst of the worst. A particular kind of cat-and-mouse game with multiple targets. He was investigating two different cases. Missing women …

“What was his other case?” I ask D.D. now, my voice urgent. “Conrad’s second investigation. You said missing women and … ?”

“A disgruntled ex-husband who shot his wife in the face. She lived. He went to prison. He’s on the record for just waiting till he can get out and finish what he started. We think Conrad knew where the ex was hiding. Might’ve even been sending her some money to help out.”

“Ex is behind bars?”

“Yes.”

“So, evil ex can’t look for the wife himself?”

“No.”

“Vendors,” I state. “Jacob used them. Conrad must’ve been exploring many of them. Pimps, predators, hired guns. Kidnappers. Hell, maybe even an arsonist or two. Like you said, behind every transaction is a real person, buying or selling. Now consider that Conrad has spent years on the dark web.”