“They already knew. Do you think I’m on a federal watchlist?” said Zoe. “Conner went completely ballistic that day, remember? I really thought my marriage might be over. How was I supposed to know she was the niece of the Peruvian ambassador? She said she didn’t eat ceviche. Ceviche is practically the national dish of Peru.”

“There was no way you could have known she was a legitimate exchange student,” Sean said in solidarity.

The incident with the Peruvian ambassador had gotten pretty sticky until her FBI special agent husband stepped in to smooth ruffled political feathers. After a solemn promise by Zoe that she would never ever visit Peru under any circumstances, and a formal apology in writing from the Mayor of the City of New York, the Peruvian debacle had been put to bed.

While chatting with Sean in her kitchen, Zoe heard someone struggling to open the front door of her apartment. The door’s lock hadn’t been working properly for months.

“Sean, I gotta go,” said Zoe in a half whisper. “Conner’s back from the store. We’ll FaceTime later.”

“Zoe? Where did these come from?” said Conner Brandt from their palatial though extremely cluttered living room. Holding up her pair of obviously powerful binoculars in his right hand and an overstuffed canvas weekend bag in his left, he stared at his wife through the opening between the dining room and kitchen. “These look like something we’d use down at the bureau for long-range surveillance of a drug cartel.”

Standing with her back to him at the sink, Zoe spun around. Damn. I didn’t put the binoculars away. “Oh, those… I bought them a while ago. Didn’t I show them to you? I thought I had.”

“And you have these because…?”

“I’ve taken up… bird-watching… in the park.”

“Bird-watching?” said Conner, staring at his wife, a dubious expression on his face. “You’ve never mentioned anything about birds before. You don’t even like birds. You regularly scream at pigeons on the street.”

“Are you kidding? I adore birds, especially pigeons with their cute warbling sounds.”

“You call them flying rats. When did all this bird-watching start?” asked Conner, narrowing his eyes.

Shit. “So… I saw this documentary… on PBS… about bird-watching and got completely hooked. Turns out, birds are really interesting… and loads of fun too,” said Zoe, a forced smile plastered across her face. “We should go together sometime. There are so many different species in the park. You’ll love it.”

“Okay,” said Conner warily, putting the binoculars back on the table. “Sure. We can do that. It’s just that you’ve never mentioned this new-found hobby before.”

“Great,” said Zoe, still smiling a little too much. “We’ll go on Saturday morning.”