Zuzana Hlinková

Zuzana Hlinková is 23 and has looked after the Rutledges' two children for fourteen months. Born in Košice, in eastern Slovakia, the daughter of a teacher and a tram mechanic, she came to the United States with her school English and the idea of seeing America. She says seeing America from inside an interrogation room wasn't part of the plan.

She sleeps in a small room on the top floor of the house, with a window onto the backyard, a narrow bed, a red suitcase she still hasn't completely unpacked and postcards taped to the wall. She wakes at six to prepare the children's snacks, takes the younger one to the school bus stop and spends the afternoon playing in the yard. At night she calls her mother in Košice, when it's already her coffee time there.

She is short, with a round face, big blue eyes, dark blond hair in a high ponytail and straight bangs. She wears a striped sailor shirt, denim overalls, white sneakers and colorful string bracelets the children made for her. She talks a lot, with a strong accent, and laughs nervously when the conversation turns serious, which she knows looks bad.

About the night of the dinner, her account is detailed: at 9 she went up to put the children to bed, read two stories, the younger one asked for a third, and she only came down at 9:40. Of the dinner she heard only laughter. She says she has no idea what the doctor does in the lab, that she changes diapers and makes sandwiches, and that she doesn't know anyone from her country who cares about bomb papers.

Zuzana knows a foreign girl, alone, who calls abroad in the small hours, is the picture any suspicion wants to see. When the detective says she sold the doctor's secrets, her big blue eyes fill with tears and she asks whether it's because she speaks with an accent. It could be the honest hurt of someone who feels singled out by her passport. It could be someone who cries early to avoid explaining the rest. The detective will have to decide which.