Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10) - Lisa Gardner Page 0,130
resources had hired it out. It was one of the reasons Conrad became fascinated by the dark web. He felt whatever happened to his parents, finding the actual driver would never be enough—the person would just be one more cog in the wheel. Whereas Conrad wanted to understand the entire system, so he could use it to trace all activities to LaPage, whom Conrad continued to believe was operating a criminal empire while behind bars.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“As we suspected, Conrad was helping out LaPage’s ex, Monica. Sending her money. He and Cain both must have a way to contact her, because after Cain got off the phone with Carol, he dialed Monica direct, and she called Carol in minutes. Conrad had reached her about a week, maybe ten days ago. He believed LaPage had not only discovered her new identity, but had taken out a hit. She’s been on the run ever since, living with a burner phone, waiting to hear more from Conrad.”
“Except he never called her back.” D.D. sighed heavily. “Okay. Let’s take it from the top. Conrad has a whole second life on the internet, where he has spent more than a decade establishing himself as some shadowy figure. He spends his time working his way through the dark web, learning a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Comes across a Jacob Ness or two. Maybe has been getting to know various guns for hire, because those would be the kinds of contacts LaPage would tap from prison. Till one day Conrad learns what he’s been waiting to hear: A contract has been taken out on poor terrified Monica. LaPage is once again in motion, his ex-wife in his sight.”
“He calls Monica directly, warns her.” Phil picked up the story.
“Then sits around at home?” D.D. frowned.
“Maybe he was working contacts of his own. Is knowing there’s been a transaction the same as knowing who’s going to carry out the hit?”
“He needed more information,” D.D. agreed.
“Except the hired gun must’ve found him first.”
“And what? Walked into Conrad’s own home and shot him three times with his own gun? That doesn’t sound like any professional hit I’ve ever heard of. Hang on. Conrad isn’t the only one who needed more information. We do, too.”
D.D. pulled back out her phone, dialed SSA Kimberly Quincy. She walked down the block, away from the noisy din of the firefighters. Phil followed in her wake. The air smelled acrid. Later, she figured, she’d blow soot straight out of her noise. So many fires in a single afternoon. And somehow, she had the unsettling feeling they weren’t done yet.
“Quincy,” Kimberly answered her cell.
“D.D. here. Have a question for you and Keith. Okay, you’re Conrad Carter. You’re investigating an evil son of a bitch, Jules LaPage, who’s currently locked behind bars, but you’re pretty sure engineered the death of your parents, and given the first opportunity will strike again to take out his ex-wife. So you set yourself up on the dark net, you learn the lay of the land.”
“Does this story have a happy ending?” Quincy asked.
“I don’t know yet. Conrad finally finds what he’s been looking for: whispers of a hit being taken out. A connection to one of the hired guns bragging about a new job. I don’t know. But Conrad called Monica LaPage over a week ago. He warned her to be on the lookout. Something tipped him off.”
“Okay,” Quincy said more thoughtfully. She was following the conversation now.
“So, what would be Conrad’s next play? The whole point of the dark web is to be anonymous, right? Except it can’t be completely anonymous. Flora was talking about escrow accounts, vendor reviews. At the end of the day, it’s still people, offering services to other people. And someone has to know what’s going on. At least one real person.”
D.D. heard a muffled sound as Quincy lowered her phone, then a distant exchange of voices. The fed was obviously hashing something out with Keith.
“So,” Quincy came back over the line. “You’re on the right track. The dark web is really just technology connecting real people to other real people. And, yes, it takes many key players to make that happen. IT gurus, for one—though, according to Keith, they spend more time coding than worrying about vendors. You’d have a management team. Who are actually funding individual sites, keeping their infrastructure running and paying the IT guys while coming up with new services, new payment opportunities, and more importantly,