Page 33 of Little Children

‘Because I’m rich,’ he answered, matter-of-factly.

There was no arrogance or pretence in his tone, and Kim got it. With money came the perception of power. Harassing this man was not like throwing eggs and dog shit at the home of some grubby paedo in a council flat. And yet there was no difference other than the presentation. If it weren’t for the photos on the wall and the unapologetic attitude, even she’d be wondering how those images had got on his computer.

‘And your business hasn’t suffered since your prison term?’

‘Trust me, my clients have no interest in my conviction.’

‘You design websites?’ she asked to make sure she understood. That meant he had to have a company name which would have been out there in public during his trial. What self-respecting business would opt to use his services again after that?

‘None that you’re likely to see,’ he said, sitting back in his chair.

Bryant cleared his throat, signalling his discomfort, and she could understand it. However well he presented himself, he was a sex offender who liked young boys and yet he was living this charmed life. She wanted to know how it was possible.

‘I don’t design sites for Clearnet,’ he explained, and she began to understand.

That was the name given to the regular internet by users of the dark web.

‘So tell us how that works, Mr Skidmore,’ she asked. There was no better way of finding out the workings of the swamp than asking the people who lived there.

‘I’ll use the most common example of the iceberg. The normal internet is the part of the iceberg above the water. The deep net is the rest. It’s by far the biggest part of the internet. It’s where companies run their intranets or where database details are kept. Personal information, bank details. It’s where emails are stored, messaging accounts, legal, financial, medical info. The deep web accounts for around ninety per cent of all websites. It’s so large that it’s impossible to discover exactly how many pages are active at any one time.’

‘But that’s not where you operate?’ Kim asked.

‘I work in the dark web, which is a part of the deep web – but a very small part. Much smaller than the Clearnet that you know so well.’

‘So, you write websites that support illegal activity?’ Kim asked. It always paid to establish someone’s level of intelligence, not to mention their access to resources. This man appeared to have an abundance of both. That meant he had the power to make young boys disappear, which made him very interesting to the investigation. A fact that shouldn’t have escaped the attention of the local team.

‘Not always illegal. Sometimes unsavoury or immoral, but not always illegal,’ Skidmore answered.

Bryant coughed again.

‘Glass of water?’ Skidmore asked.

‘I’m good, thanks,’ Bryant answered, not moving an inch from the doorway.

Kim realised that Skidmore wasn’t attempting to be charming. He wasn’t attempting to be anything. He was unashamedly being himself.

‘So, to finish my analogy, the dark web would be the bottom of the submerged iceberg.’

‘And that’s where you spend your time? At the lowest level?’ she asked.

‘Very passive aggressive, officer.’

‘What stops us accessing the bottom of the iceberg and closing you all down?’

She meant the police generally, though she knew that there were teams in place investigating the dark web and that their task was an uphill battle. The place was full of weapons, drugs, pornography, illicit links, extremism and hacking scams.

‘First of all, you need to disabuse yourself of the notion that it’s like a grubby house with a dark room where you can shine a torch and expose a group of men in the corner on their mobile phones. Unless you know what you’re doing, you’re not even going to find it.’

‘Why not?’ Kim asked.

She could just contact Cybercrime and get this information from them, but she was here now, and she didn’t know what else she might learn.

‘Okay, think of search engines like Google as small fishing boats. They’re only able to catch the fish that are closest to the surface. The dark web isn’t indexed by regular search engines.’

Kim knew that once you found your way there, the dark web was full of trading sites where people could purchase all kinds of illegal goods and services. She also knew it was the home of keyloggers, botnets, ransomware and phishing schemes.

It reminded Kim of a Ouija board. Although she wasn’t particularly sold on the afterlife, she did feel that such an instrument was asking for trouble. Once you opened that door, you couldn’t close it again. Once you left your footprint in the dark web, you were susceptible to any kind of scam.