The campus was also a combination of old and new architecture, the buildings interspersed among wide lawns currently covered in snowdrifts. Since it wasn’t raining or snowing, students were everywhere, huddled in their parkas, trudging from place to place with heavy boots on their feet. Parking was always a problem, but Peter lucked out, snagging a space after a car pulled out.
McAdams said, “I’m leaving my stuff in the trunk of your car, Peter. I don’t want to schlepp it with me.”
“Where do you live? Are you on campus?”
“No, I’m in an apartment that reeks of eye-watering kimchi because my neighbors are Korean. Nice people, but you get tired of the smell. It wafts through the rather thin walls and settles into my clothing.”
“At least you won’t be attacked by a vampire.”
“Nonsense.” McAdams slammed the door shut. “This place is filled with bloodsuckers, and garlic hasn’t stopped any of them.”
It was a short walk to the math building. Professor Mordechai Gold had a spacious, wood-paneled corner office, the walls covered with degrees, awards, and certificates. The bookshelves were overflowing with reference material. The floors were covered with authentic Persian carpets. The place was big enough for a sofa and a few chairs as well as Dr. Gold’s enormous desk. He had prepared for their arrival with coffee and cookies.
“They’re kosher,” he told Rina. “Sit, sit.”
“How’s the family?” Rina asked.
“Great. It’s nice to see everyone again. Certainly the circumstances are better . . . well, maybe not for you. I heard about Professor Belfort’s demise. That’s just terrible. Can I ask what happened?”
“Single gunshot wound to the head.”
“God, that’s terrible. Was she depressed or . . . should I not be asking questions.”
“It’s fine.” Decker sat down on one end of the sofa, McAdams sat on the other end, and Rina was in the middle. “We haven’t received the coroner’s report, but we’re treating it as a suspicious death.”
“Murder?”
“Yes, but that’s not official.”
“Oh my goodness. That makes it even worse.” Gold turned to Rina. “At least you’re doing okay, right?”
“No overt interference from our friends overseas, if that’s what you’re asking,” Rina told him. “We do find a hidden electronic bug from time to time. I don’t mind when they’re in the kitchen or living room. It feels a little weird when we find one in the bedroom. How do they get in to place them with the alarm on?”
“The spooks have their ways,” Gold told her. “Don’t worry. Eventually they give up.”
“They should,” Rina said. “We’re just not that interesting.”
Gold smiled. “Coffee? Tea? Hot water? I’m taking some tea myself.”
“What do you have?” Rina sorted through the tea bags and pulled out mint-flavored and gave it to him. “I can fix it.”
“I’ll do it. You’re in my house. How are you, Tyler? How’s law school. Isn’t it finals time?”
“It is. I was studying at the Deckers’ house. It’s quieter and the food is better. But then someone decided to kick me out.”
“He’s getting overly involved in a police matter when he should be studying,” Decker said.
“Not overly involved . . . just involved.”
Gold poured Rina tea. “What can I pour for you two gentlemen?”
“I’m fine,” Decker said. “Tyler?”
“I’m okay. I know you’re a busy man, Professor.” McAdams opened a briefcase. “This is regarding that case I shouldn’t be involved with.”
“Belfort?”
“Yes.” McAdams took out a set of papers. “We downloaded these off her computer. If you wouldn’t mind, could you take a look and tell us what you think?”
Gold took the pages and flipped through them. “What am I looking for?”
“We’re just interested in what you have to tell us about them,” Decker said.
“They’re Fourier transforms. Without knowing the context, I can’t tell you what she was analyzing. You know what Fourier transforms are?”
“Changing a function of time to a function of frequency,” McAdams said. “Could she have been using the math to track the momentum of the stock market?”
“As a stochastic oscillator? Sure. It also could be a thousand other things.” He continued to flip through the pages. “It’s certainly nothing earth-shattering.”
“No new ideas?”
“None at all. I mean she could have been using these particular formulas in a novel way, but the analysis is basic upper-division math.”
“So it’s nothing worth murdering over,” Decker said.
“The math isn’t, God no.” Gold handed the papers back to McAdams. “Do you know if she was tracking the market?”
“According to her students, she was consulting to several high-worth money managers using a unique algorithm. So that would seem likely.”
“So there you go,” Gold said.
“But the math isn’t a big deal?”
“Put it this way.” Gold chuckled. “She isn’t going to win the Fields Medal.”
“Thanks,” McAdams said. “These pages here were given to a math student’s brother for safekeeping. Later, that student committed suicide.”
Gold took the papers. “Yes, I heard something about that as well. What a terrible tragedy. What was his name?”
“Elijah Wolf.”
“Oh dear.” Gold shook his head. “I remember that name. He applied here and was accepted. We offered him a full scholarship, but he turned it down.”
“His family wanted to keep him closer to home. He decided on Kneed Loft.”
“It’s certainly a fine college. He committed suicide? What happened, if I can ask?”
“We don’t know, Mordy,” Decker said. “By all accounts, he was a quiet, well-mannered kid who was obsessed with math. His friends didn’t see any telltale signs. But I don’t think most of them were close friends, nor were they clued in to his emotional ups and downs. No note was left. The tox screen was negative. Who knows what he was thinking?”
“And you’re sure it’s suicide?”
“That is the coroner’s ruling. In light of Belfort’s death, we might have another look at the case.”
Gold flipped through Eli’s pages. “This is Fourier analysis . . . that’s a cousin to Fourier transforms, but the uses are different. These pages seem to be dealing with the analysis of complex waves and breaking them down into smaller simpler waves.” A pause. “Could I see the first set of papers again?”
“Of course.” McAdams handed him the pages.
“Okay . . .” Gold looked at the math side by side. “Two different things going on here. She’s using transforms, and in light of what you told me, the calculations probably are related to the stock market. Eli’s doing integration that involves eigenvectors . . . you know what an eigenvector is?”
Decker said, “Something where a part represents a whole?”
“No, that’s more like fractals.”
“You can start at the beginning,” Decker said. “Math wasn’t my strong suit.”
“Math is one of those things that you either love or hate. No one feels neutral about it. Anyway, a vector is simply a line with direction. It’s marked by a starting point on one end and an arrow on the end representing infinity. When you stretch a vector in space, it warps. Most vectors will change directions. An eigenvector is a specialized subset of vectors. When you stretch an eigenvector, the direction remains the same no matter how you stretch it. It’s an important concept that is used in a variety of applied sciences. In engineering, for instance, if you apply an outside force onto a building, like a wind shear, you want to know how it will affect the stability of the components—the steel, the cement, the wood, the bolts and nuts. Eigenvectors will move in the same direction. The amount of stretch they move by is a multiple of a scalar, which is nothing more than a number. That numbe
r is called an eigenvalue. This is probably way more than you need to know.”
McAdams said, “Actually your explanation is almost identical to what Rina had told us.”
“You were a math major in college?” Gold asked her.
“I got as far as linear algebra,” Rina said. “I had a baby at home and then another one on the way, so college was a lot for me to take on. Then we moved to Israel.”
“You lived in Israel?” Gold asked Decker.
“This was with her first husband, Isaac.”
“He passed when we were both very young.” Rina’s eyes watered. She hit Decker’s shoulder. “Then this bum came around.”
“Poor you.” Decker smiled. “You know, Rina? Tyler’s right. You’re a very good teacher.”
Gold said, “Maybe you should think about finishing your BA. We’re open to applications.”
“Now, there’s a thought.” She turned to Decker. “What do you think?”
“Go for it.”
“Right.”
“I’m serious. ‘If not now, when?’ to quote Hillel.”
McAdams cleared his throat. “Uh, I do have a study group to catch, so can we get back to the case?” To Gold: “You were saying that Eli’s papers are different from Belfort’s papers?”
“Related, but not the same thing.”
McAdams handed Gold a final set of papers. “These are also from Elijah Wolf. We found them hidden behind a drawer in his dorm room.”
“Okay . . .” Gold gave them a once-through. “These equations seem to be more related to Dr. Belfort’s papers. These are Fourier transforms. They are different calculations from the ones pulled from Belfort, but it’s the same methodology.”
“Okay,” Decker said. “So the papers that Elijah asked his brother to hide are dealing with something different from the first and third set?”
“I can’t tell you positively without knowing the context,” Gold told him. “All I’m saying is that the calculations in the first and third set are dealing with Fourier transforms and the second set is Fourier analysis and eigenvectors. And I don’t know what the math was being used for.”
“Got it,” Decker said. “There’s nothing unusual about the math in the second set of papers that deal with eigenvectors?”
“Nope. Of course, Elijah could have been using the math to solve a revolutionary problem, but the math is simple.”
“Thanks,” Decker said. “That was helpful.”
“Great.” Gold looked at his watch. “That took all of twenty minutes. Lunch? I got some kosher sandwiches. If you don’t have time, you can pack them up and take them with you.”
Decker looked at Rina, who said, “I’m in no hurry.”
Gold clapped his hands. “Great. I’ll have my secretary bring them here. We can really catch up. I am curious about the Belfort case.”
“You and me both,” McAdams said. “Unfortunately, there’s a study group due to convene in about a half hour.”
“Good man,” Decker said.
“Can I talk to you in private for a moment?”
Decker tried to read the kid’s face. He was stoic. “Sure.”
The two men got up and went outside into the hallway. McAdams said, “Can we strike a deal? If I spend the next couple of hours deep in my law books, can I please come back with you?”
“Tyler—”
“Don’t make me beg, boss.”
“And here I thought you pulled me aside to lay some insights on me after our meeting with Gold.”
“I have a couple of those as well.”
“I’m listening.”
“How about we save them for the ride back.” McAdams smiled. “Please let me sleep without the sounds of inebriated students banging into walls and/or throwing up? As I said, my walls are very thin. Please?”
Decker rolled his eyes. “You’d better fucking pass.”
“I know what’s at stake. I promise you I’ll pass.”
Decker shook his head and headed back into Gold’s office.
McAdams grinned as he shouted, “I’ll take that as a yes.”
WITH HIS HEAD swimming in facts and case history, McAdams cornered the building and collided with Mallon Euler. She was wrapped in a knee-length wool coat, a scarf around her neck, a ski hat on her head, gloves on her hands, and combat boots on her feet. Her big blue eyes were cast downward.
“Mallon?” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you went to Boston. I was wondering if I could stay with you.”
“I thought you were staying with Damodar.”
“I was, but I don’t fully trust him. I think he may be part of the problem. Can I?”
“Can you what?”
“Can I stay with you?”
“No, Mallon, you can’t stay with me. First of all, I’m not staying here. I’m going back to Greenbury.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m still working on the case with Detective Decker.”
“Tyler, I’m scared to be alone and I’m scared to be with Damodar. I don’t know who to trust except I trust you.”
“Thank you for your confidence in me, but that doesn’t mean we can be roomies.”
“It’s just temporary.”
“No, you may not move in with me.” McAdams shuffled his feet. “Look, I’m meeting up with the Deckers, and the three of us are going home together. How about if we talk when we’re all back in Greenbury, okay?”
“If you’re going back, can I hitch a ride back with you?”
“Oh God . . .”
“Please? Please, please, please?”
“Stop, stop.” He exhaled. “I’ll ask them. Come on.”
He fast-walked ahead of her, but she caught up. “This is a very big campus.”
“It’s a university, not a college.”
“All you geniuses walking around . . . you must feel very special.”
“Don’t you start on me! I get enough crap from Greenbury police.”
“I’d feel special.”
“Fine. You can take my special. It’s never done me any good.”
She suddenly brightened. “You know, I could sleep in Decker’s car.”
“Absolutely not. For one thing, you’ll freeze to death.”
“They don’t garage it?”
“It’s out of the question.”
“How about the police station? I’ll bring my own bedding.”
“No.”
“Could you slow down?”
McAdams complied. “Look, Mallon. I know you’re freaked out. I understand completely. I was really antsy after I was shot. It’s a real violation. But you have to make some workable arrangements for your living quarters. If you don’t trust Damodar, find someone else.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll just stay with Damodar. I suppose it’ll be okay since you’ll be there . . . in town, I mean.”
“I’ll be there for about a week. Then I really have to come back here and take my finals. And you can’t bunk down in my apartment. It’s too small and it’s totally unprofessional. No, no, no!”
“You don’t have to be so rude about it.”
McAdams stopped and held her bundled shoulders. “Look, Mallon. You’re a very smart girl. And maybe once you graduate from Kneed Loft and the case is all done and resolved and it isn’t ten below outside, we can go out for a nice dinner . . . at least, a dinner other than Indian buffet. But not now, okay? Now is not the right time for either of us. Got it?”
A big smile graced her lips. “You want to take me out for dinner?”
McAdams slapped his forehead. “Let’s get going before Peter decides to leave without me.”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“Rina wouldn’t, but Decker would with a cherry on top.”
CHAPTER 23
MCADAMS DROVE, DECKER sat shotgun, while the women took up the backseat. The car was quiet for the first half hour since business wasn’t discussed with Mallon in tow. Rina was drifting off. The silenc
e gave Decker a chance to close his eyes and think. A few minutes later, Mallon spoke up.
“Thank you for taking me back.”
“No problem.” Rina opened her eyes and stretched. “Who wants coffee?”
“I’m off caffeine,” Mallon told her.
“Then I guess you won’t be drinking coffee.”
“I’m gonna just put this out there,” McAdams said. “You follow us up here and it’s not just to feel safe. You’ve got to level with us. What are you after?”
Mallon crossed her arms in a huff. “I assume you’re talking to me.”
“Correct.”
“Maybe this conversation is best held another time,” Rina said.
“No, Tyler’s right,” Decker said. “What’s going on, Mallon?”
“Nothing!” she insisted.
Silence.
Then more silence.
She sighed. “You had Eli’s papers looked at?”
“Aha!” McAdams said. “Now we’re getting to the root of all evil.”
“Yes, we had the papers looked at,” Decker said. “Eli wasn’t working on any revolutionary math.”
“How do you know that?” Mallon asked.
“I don’t know,” McAdams said. “But the guy at Harvard does. He told us the math was simple.”
“Maybe he’s lying.”
Decker said, “Why would he do that?”
“Oh rubbish!” Mallon said. “I’m just going to put it all out there since you put it all out there, okay?”
The Theory of Death Page 20