Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10) - Lisa Gardner Page 0,120

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.”

“A good ten to fifteen,” D.D. supplied.

“Think of the network he himself must’ve started building under his various aliases. Providers of services who knew and trusted him, allowing him to dig deeper and deeper. Except he’s not just looking at one crime. He’s looking at all sorts of criminal enterprises. What if he figured something out? What if he figured someone out? Because as Keith is saying, none of the dark web can exist without actual people managing the works.”

Long pause. “You mean like Ulbricht from the Silk Road.”

“Maybe. But it doesn’t have to be he identified some huge mastermind. It would be enough to reveal the principal at the local high school is actually the person running the child porn forum, or the nice lady up the block is a secret assassin for hire. It would explain the arson angle as well. If Conrad figured out an identity, the person in question might be worried Conrad documented it somehow. A notebook tucked in a drawer. A journal he gave to a known criminal defense attorney who’s close personal friends with his wife.”

A pause as D.D. considers the idea. “Not a bad theory,” she says at last. “But given that it’s also pure conjecture, it doesn’t help us.”

“Not yet. But give Keith some time. He can approach it from the dark web itself, using Conrad’s various aliases to identify connections. He’ll figure it out.” I look at Keith squarely for the first time all morning. He arches a brow at the huge promises I just made in his name. But he doesn’t shake his head. He’ll do it. Meaning maybe I was wrong about him after all. Maybe