The email from Tracey’s parents that landed in my inbox – after four years of silence – was brief and came with enough business-like formality it could just have easily been signed – FROM THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF MA & PA.

I re-read those words a number of times over the next few days. The conclusion I reached was that Tracey’s parents – for reasons that would remain a mystery – had decided, as inexplicable and unlikely as it sounds, once more NOT to pass on my message to their now 58-year-old daughter.

The need to point out Tracey was happily married – I had used those exact words myself in my letter to them describing my own marital state – flashed ‘protective’ vibe to my eyes, as well as a questioning of my motives for reaching out to Tracey to (simply) enquire if she might like to say ‘Hello’ again after all these years.

I thanked them for the email and, having viewed enough classic B & W film noirs in my time, knew exactly what to do next.

Private Detective Agencies are experts at locating people with the barest of information. And not having seen or spoken to Tracey for 35 years, not knowing her married surname and unaware whether she still even resided in Australia or not, the barest of information is exactly what I had.

And in the end, that’s all it took to finally – after all these years – find Tracey. Six days and a few false leads later, the ‘hit’ from the sleuthing agency came back.

Known as ‘skip tracing’ – the process, in the hands of gumshoe pros like the one I employed – is nothing short of a (perfectly legal) magician’s trick. As to how it’s done, let’s just say people staying connected on Facebook is a big help.

There was one small problem with the information that came back to me, however. I’d requested from the P.I. an email address for Tracey. This was the method of contact I wished to pursue and felt was the least intrusive.

What I got instead was a physical street address. I remember my spidey-sense tingling and thinking to myself, “O-oh…this might cause a spot of bother down the track”. That, as it turns out, would be putting it mildly.

Coming in late? You can read the earlier chapters to FINDING TRACEY – HERE – HERE and HERE.