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And she understood immediately why Rona would be sorry for her.

She felt the blood drain from her face. The dizziness returned. She forced herself to focus.

It was a photo of her. She was on a beach wearing a thong bikini and striking a suggestive pose. The photo was taken from behind her, and she was looking over her left shoulder.

It was obscene. And it was not her. She did not own a bikini like that and she would not have been photographed in one if she did.

But the people seeing it online wouldn’t know that.

Underneath, somebody using the handle bicyclefreak had posted a comment.

thought I would share our neighborhood milf with all of you! I’ve heard if you ask nicely she’ll do whatever you want.

‘Oh my God,’ she whispered. ‘What the fuck is this?’

There were more comments. She scanned them with a sense of mounting horror.

She’s hot. I think I’ve seen her around.

love me a good milf. and that’s a good one

good to see the women of Barrow representing!

And then, from a friend of Otis, a boy she had known since pre-school called Rob.

Way to go Mrs J! Otis – who was tagged in the comment – your mom rocks!

She threw her phone away. It clattered on the wooden floor, and skidded into the wall. Ryan looked up from the stove.

‘What’s wrong?’ he said.

‘Everything,’ Mary replied. ‘Everything is wrong.’

Too Late, Though

‘It’s not you,’ Ryan said. His lips were thin and white, his eyes set hard in his face. ‘It’s not even you in the photo.’

‘It looks like it is, though,’ Mary said. She felt empty and distant, as though all this was happening to someone else and she was merely an observer. ‘It’s very convincing.’

Her body, although it was clearly generated digitally, was the body of a woman in her mid-forties. Whoever had done this had wanted it to be as realistic as possible, so that people would believe it.

Ryan scrolled through the information on the Facebook page. ‘The administrator is Liz Sandiman,’ he said. ‘I know her. I’ll get her to take this down immediately.’

He reached for his own phone and typed a message. Moments later, he shook his head and selected a number. He stood up and lifted the phone to his ear.

Mary listened as he explained to Liz Sandiman what had happened.

He turned back to her. ‘It’ll be gone in a few minutes.’

‘Too late though, isn’t it?’ Mary said. ‘Plenty of people have seen it already. Including one of Otis’s friends, which means all of Otis’s friends – and all of Sally’s – have seen it, too, as well as their parents, their uncles and aunts, and anybody else they can think of to send it to.’

It was true. Something like this would spread through a small town like a wildfire crackling and ripping through a bone-dry forest. She felt diminished, shrunken by this appalling humiliation. Eventually some people would learn that this was a malicious prank, that this was AI-generated. But only some people. For many this was all they would ever know of it. The damage was already done.

And worse, it was not only her who was a victim. It was Otis and Sally as well.

‘This has to be illegal,’ Ryan said. ‘I’m going to call Gray Turner and see what he thinks. I can tell him about the note as well.’

‘In the meantime,’ Mary said. ‘We need to talk to the kids.’