Double Agent

On a hot August afternoon in 1985, Aldrich Hazen Ames exchanged vows with Maria del Rosario Casas Dupuy in a charming little church nestled by a hill in Arlington, Virginia. It was the bridegroom's second marriage, the bride's first. The small knot of family members and friends, sweltering in the humid, 87 degreesF air, might have expected to be rewarded with a meal for their attendance. But after the ceremony, guests were offered only wine. Ames explained that he couldn't afford a fancy reception because the cost of his previous marriage's breakup had cleaned him out. Guests had no reason to...