‘So how do we go about finding it?’
‘Ah.’ His happy expression fell away. ‘We’d need to find the right sheet in the right file. Perhaps it’s one that has some connection to the escort agency on the card – Dark Desires. An agency which, by the way, we’ve yet to locate. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t even have a website.’
Bliss blew out his cheeks. It was a bright idea, but one that ultimately left them no closer to discovering additional information. He clapped the DC on the arm. ‘It’s a good thought, John. Possibly inspired. I’m not sure how we tie any of it together, though. Or even if it’s associated with our victim. But we have to assume both cards are important somehow. One was clearly on her person so that she could get hold of me if she was in trouble; that didn’t work out too well for her. But she also has to have kept this other card tucked away for a reason.’
‘Do you want me to stay on it?’
‘As far as possible, John, yes. You and Gul are both good at running down this sort of thing. But let’s say you’re right about this Easter egg stuff. To find the spreadsheet, I think we first have to find a website for this Dark Desires place.’
Ansari looked doubtful.
‘What is it, Gul?’ Bliss asked. You think otherwise?’
‘I can’t know for sure, sir – none of us can at the moment. But if there’s no obvious website to be found – and so far there isn’t – maybe it’s not findable using standard measures. Dark Desires might exist only on the dark web.’ She nodded excitedly. ‘That might be it, sir. And if that’s the case, it could work the exact opposite way to how you thought. It could be that the Easter egg leads to the website, not the other way around.’
Bliss didn’t know enough about the dark and often lawless realms of the web to feel particularly confident, so he asked Ansari for a quick primer. She explained how sites on the dark web could not be reached using a standard search engine like Google. They were designed and configured specifically to work outside of the domain name system, and without DNS the search engines were unable to find these hidden addresses. If names existed at all, they were usually identifiable as a string of random letters and numbers. Otherwise the sites could be found only if you knew their precise IP address.
Bliss stopped her there. ‘Bear with me, Gul. Believe it or not, I came into the job around the same time as computers did, but I’m strictly a user and not an enthusiast. I use the tool in front of me for the job in hand, and have no interest otherwise.’
‘I get that. I have no interest in koi fish.’ She smiled at him and he returned one. ‘Sir, all you need to understand is that these websites are hidden away. To get to them, you either need to know the exact address or use a specific piece of software. TOR is the most popular, but even that’s not adequate for the deepest, darkest web. For those sites you have to know the address in full, because you can’t search for it.’
‘TOR?’ Bliss spread his hands as if completely lost.
‘It’s a specially designed browser called The Onion Router that not only helps to conceal your IP address, and therefore your identity while browsing, but also provides access to the lower reaches of the dark web.’
‘And you think this Easter egg thing avoids all that and provides direct access to this Dark Desires site. Or, at least, there’s a chance it could do?’
‘It’s pure guesswork on my part. But if John is right about the Easter egg, then yes.’
‘But educated guesswork?’
‘Yes, sir.’
Bliss nodded, though he still did not fully appreciate the complexities. ‘That’ll do for me. Keep at it, you two. Meanwhile, I think Pen and I will pay the delightful Nicola yet another visit. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see us again. Good work, Gul. You too, John.’
His rank allowed him the freedom to ask, instruct, or order a constable, yet doing so with Ansari and Hunt while not being their overall boss felt strange. Two months into his probation, and it was starting to wear him down rather than improve matters. He left the pair to it and went to find Chandler.
***
Bliss and Chandler visited Parkinson for a third time in as many days. To Bliss’s way of thinking, silences spoke volumes, while words were often telling, but for him there was nothing quite like staring into a person’s eyes when you mentioned something unexpected. Eyes never lie; they either say nothing or they tell the truth. Experience told Bliss this, and it had seldom failed him.
Following their usual exchange of unpleasantries, Parkinson immediately went on the defensive. ‘This is harassment,’ she insisted. ‘Our solicitors will hear about it.’
Bliss grinned. The accusation was becoming something of a theme. ‘Wind your scrawny neck in, Nicola. We’re here to ask a single question, that’s all.’
‘Just the one? You promise? Because I have legitimate business to attend to, and your presence here is starting to fuck me right off.’
‘I give you my word,’ Bliss said, hand raised as if swearing on the Bible.
He took the ensuing silence as tacit agreement, and went straight for the jugular. ‘Tell me about Dark Desires, Nicola.’
‘You tell me!’ she snapped at him. ‘I bet you’ve got a few of your own.’
Parkinson had immediately got to her feet when he and Chandler entered the room, and had remained standing. He stared directly into her eyes, and in them he saw the flicker he’d hoped for. His instincts had been right; if the website was
