Blue Hydrangea

A New Jersey suburb, Thursday, June 24, 2010, 10 pm. On Maple Street, with its trimmed lawns and identical mailboxes, the living room of engineer Elmer Rutledge smells of cold coffee and fear.

This morning, counterintelligence found a photo of blue hydrangeashydrangea A shrub with large round clusters of flowers. The soil's acidity decides whether the blooms come out pink or blue. at full size on a gardening forum. Hidden in its pixels was page 14 of the test report for a bunker-buster bomb that the doctor designs at a defense lab.

The photo was posted on Wednesday at 12:52 pm by an account created the same day, over the wireless network of the train station café. The report only left the lab once: on Monday night, in the doctor's briefcase, left in the upstairs office during the birthday dinner for his wife, Prudence.

The hydrangeashydrangea A shrub with large round clusters of flowers. The soil's acidity decides whether the blooms come out pink or blue. in the photo are the neighbor's, the most famous on the street. Three people who were in the house that night are still here. One of them is not who they say they are.

Living room of an American suburban house in 2010, at night, with the screen door open.