This is a transcript of a chat I found on my daughter's computer. Well, not the whole transcript, which was full of stuff like 'random' and 'weird' and 'whatever'. What follows is only the salient bit.

Tom16: Need to tell u something important. A secret.

Alicia15: Ok ... :-)

Tom16: Not sure if I can trust u.

Alicia15: Why not?

Tom16: Lots of people online aren't who they say they r. If I hear ur voice, I'll know u r not a middle-aged perv posing as one of us.

Alicia15: Makes sense.

Tom16: So. Do u have a mobile?

Alicia15: Yeah. But no.

Tom16: A webcam?

Alicia15: Forget it!

Tom16: Just kidding. How about photos then?

Alicia15: Plural? That's greedy!!! LOL

Tom16: Anybody can have 1 pic of a 15yo girl. If u have 5, u may be for real.

Alicia15: Dunno. I'm not cool with sending my photos.

Tom16: Come on. It's not like giving ur home address or the gold, u know?

Alicia15: GTG PAW

Right. To begin with, Alicia's real name is Natalie. And she is thirteen, not fifteen. Judging from the transcript, though, she's not a dumb thirteen. She didn't disclose any personal details, and she pulled the plug on the conversation the minute she got uncomfortable.

I try to stay abreast of teenage slang and chat speak, so I know that 'GTG PAW' stands for 'Got to go, parents are watching,' which was a lie, because according to the date-time stamp of the transcript file (all the chats get recorded and saved onto my computer), I was making dinner at the time. And her father is out of the picture. He left us without an explanation six months ago, his existence confirmed only by the monthly cheques.

So I didn't understand what had spooked Natalie into ending the chat until I googled 'giving the gold' and discovered that 'gold' meant 'virginity.'

In my day, we called it the cherry. I felt my age.

I also felt furious, and that's an understatement.

It took me a couple of hours to think straight again. Something about Tom16 didn't feel sixteen. His language tried too hard. Plus, the I-want-to-tell-you-a-secret ploy indicated an adult's psychology.

Unfortunately for Tom16, he had messed with the wrong girl. Before going to bed that night, I tracked his computer's Internet address.

Also, I used my old police force connections (I'd quit my job six years ago when I got pregnant with the twins). I cashed in a couple of favours, and in twenty-four hours I had access to all Tom's official records.

He owns a house three suburbs away from us, which is not surprising, given that the chat room is for teenagers living in our city. He's approaching forty, which is not surprising, either, and married with two teenage daughters. What is surprising is that his name's really Tom.