There’s a book inside. It looks ancient—the paper is foxed and brittle and looks like it could crumble into dust at any second. And the book is in Chinese. Erica gingerly opens it in a few places. The characters are graceful and beautiful, but of course she has no idea what they mean. Why did Martin Vander want Erica to have this? What could it possibly have to do with Mike Ortiz? And what is the book about? Erica Googles “Chinese languages,” and several Chinese alphabets come up. She tries to match the characters on her screen with the ones on the book. It’s hopeless. She knows China has many regional languages, and with a book this old she hasn’t a clue where to begin. But clearly Martin Vander thought this text was important in understanding Mike and Celeste Ortiz. Erica stands up and paces, feeling pressure to prepare for tonight’s show—which is going to include segments on the drought in the West, the spread of the West Nile virus, and updates on the Buchanan bombing.
