Page 37 of The Killer’s Mark

‘You mean Pure Pulse Productions has no debt yet.’

‘I don’t under—’

‘If you were unlucky enough to have filmed my client’s fourteen-year-old daughter, your business is – cover your ears, Tilly – to put it bluntly, fucked. My client is going to press charges against everyone who sexually exploited her daughter. You might avoid prison, but you won’t avoid the mountain of brown smelly stuff heading your way. If you thought what happened to the porn industry was bad when Traci Lords was caught lying about her age, you haven’t been paying attention. Traci Lords lied about her age during the analogue era. It cost the porn industry hundreds of millions of dollars to seek and destroy the tapes of her having sex. But you uploaded your films during the digital age. And the digital age has wings. Once something’s on the internet, it’s always on the internet. Now, you’re an industry insider. You know the business better than me. Tell me, Mr Knight, what will the multibillion-dollar pornography companies do to the person, or sole trader, who uploaded child pornography to their websites? When they start getting subpoenas? When it starts costing them money? Do you think they’ll sit on their hands and take the fines and the bad press? Or do you think they’ll go after the person, or sole trader, who exposed them to that risk?’

Knight said nothing for almost a minute.

‘Now, I can hear the cogs already beginning to turn in your seedy little mind,’ Poe said. ‘You’re looking for a way out. A way to mitigate the damage. My advice is to stop that right now. If you have filmed my client’s daughter, there’s only one way to keep your house and your marriage.’

‘What do you want?’

Chapter 27

‘Luckily for you, my client has more interest in her daughter’s well-being than getting back at the people who exploited her,’ Poe said. ‘My instructions are to find all digital copies of the films and delete them. That’s why Tilly is here. She knows how to delete files so they can’t be recovered. If I meet resistance, I am to report it to the Complex Investigation Team. They’ll take it from there.’ He paused. ‘Even if you haven’t filmed her daughter, I don’t imagine you want those guys turning your life upside down. They investigate paedophiles, Mr Knight. Worse than that, everyone around here knows they investigate paedophiles.’

Bradshaw opened her laptop. ‘I’ve been through everything on your cloud account, Mr Knight,’ she said. ‘There is nothing on there we are interested in. What I want—’

‘How did you access my cloud account?’

‘Please do not interrupt me again. If you do, I’ll infect your electronic devices with a virus so powerful it will be like you’re back in the Stone Age.’

‘I wouldn’t test her on this,’ Poe said. ‘She’s been dying to try out that virus, and right now, I can’t think of anyone more deserving.’

Knight said nothing.

‘I want the computer on which you store the films and photographs you haven’t yet uploaded,’ Bradshaw said. ‘I assume you film everything on SD cards then upload them directly to an air-gapped computer?’

‘I do.’

‘I want access to that computer.’

‘Right now,’ Poe added. ‘I don’t want you getting clever and trying to delete something. Tilly will find it anyway. All you’ll do is put me in a bad mood.’

‘You’re not already in a bad mood?’

‘I’m happier than a tornado in a trailer park at the minute, but that probably won’t last.’

‘I’ll get my computer.’

Bradshaw connected her laptop to Toby Knight’s air-gapped one. She pressed a few buttons, then hummed while she waited for everything to download. It wasn’t long before the entire contents of his computer had been transferred to hers.

‘What else do you have?’ Poe said.

‘Like?’

‘Do you use your phone to shoot things? Your tablet? Where’s your camera?’

‘My camera’s next door, but it’s empty. Everything is on that computer. Now, can you tell me if I have inadvertently filmed your client’s daughter?’

‘No.’

‘No? What do you mean, “no”?’

‘It’s a common word, Mr Knight. Used as a generally negative response.’

‘But how will I know if I’m in the clear?’

‘You won’t.’