it.”
“But you believe he gave it to me?”
She sat back in her seat and exhaled.
“It matters that much to you?” he said.
“You bet it does. Imagine being in my shoes for the last twenty-four hours. Wouldn’t it matter to you?”
Richard figured he didn’t have to decide what to do about Dani until the train got to Wilmington. That is if he had to decide anything at all. “I have an idea,” he said. He picked up his cell phone, found the number and dialed.
Dani felt a surge of alarm as she saw him dial. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t worry. I’m calling a friend of mine who’s a wiz at statistics.” He waited. He held the phone away from his ear so she could overhear the other end of the conversation.
“Jeff, it’s Richard.”
They exchanged greetings.
“I’ve got a spreadsheet in front of me with a bunch of data and wondered if you could help me out,” Richard said.
“Depends what it is.”
“It’s an Excel spreadsheet with multiple columns of data, each with two values separated by a comma. Any idea how I can figure out what it represents?”
“No formula, no labels as to what the data are?”
“Nope.”
Jeff paused for a moment. “You say two variables each column?”
“Yeah.”
“Multiple columns?”
“Yeah.” Dani saw Richard scroll to the right. “I count ten, maybe, twenty columns, maybe more.”
“Might be the data for a time-sequenced linear regression equation. Testing X versus Y variables against each other over time. It’s one way to do it. The other way is using a non-linear equation.”
“You lost me.”
“Somebody might be testing the same two variables against each other on a monthly or a yearly basis. Seeing what the correlation is, or how it changes based on time.”
“Why would somebody do that?”
“To prove that over time the correlation gets stronger or weaker. But that’s all you got? Just columns with X and Y variables?”
“I’m not even sure they’re X and Y variables.”
“You don’t have any labels down the left saying what they are, or labels across the columns at the top saying when they occur?”
“Nope.”
“Then sounds like you’re shit outta luck, my man. Listen, I gotta go.” Jeff hung up.
Dani saw Richard put his cell phone down. “We need to figure out what these data points represent, and over what time period they’re measured,” he said.
Dani sighed. Then she turned to him again. “You said we.” It wasn’t much but he said it. We. A small victory. I’ll take it. “What do we do now?”
“Don’t get cocky.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you. I need your help, but I also need someone to believe in me. This is scarier than you can imagine. And it hurts, knowing my family and friends are seeing me on the news as a potential murderer. You know what I mean?”
They rode in silence again for a few minutes. They passed some rock formations. The wet granite reminded her of Stoddard’s Peak, a 45° granite incline with crevices that were always wet, near Twin Lakes, that she’d climbed many times with Dad. Last fall she climbed it with Gabe for the first time. It had held no pleasure for her after Dad died, until she’d experienced it again with Gabe, the joy for her that he was seeing it. Just thinking about him made her smile. What she’d give to be there with him now, sitting atop Stoddard’s Peak eating sandwiches with him, talking about school, the Yankees. She felt a pleasant warmth in her chest. Dani hadn’t spoken with Gabe since she’d dropped him off at school yesterday morning. She rummaged in the Duane Reade bag for one of the prepaid cell phones. She pulled it out and dialed. Nothing happened. She was staring at it, confused when Richard said, “You need to log on to their website to register those things before they work.” Dani felt a spasm of fear, and must have showed it in her face because Richard added, “Don’t worry. You can put in any name you want. That way you can keep
“But you believe he gave it to me?”
She sat back in her seat and exhaled.
“It matters that much to you?” he said.
“You bet it does. Imagine being in my shoes for the last twenty-four hours. Wouldn’t it matter to you?”
Richard figured he didn’t have to decide what to do about Dani until the train got to Wilmington. That is if he had to decide anything at all. “I have an idea,” he said. He picked up his cell phone, found the number and dialed.
Dani felt a surge of alarm as she saw him dial. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t worry. I’m calling a friend of mine who’s a wiz at statistics.” He waited. He held the phone away from his ear so she could overhear the other end of the conversation.
“Jeff, it’s Richard.”
They exchanged greetings.
“I’ve got a spreadsheet in front of me with a bunch of data and wondered if you could help me out,” Richard said.
“Depends what it is.”
“It’s an Excel spreadsheet with multiple columns of data, each with two values separated by a comma. Any idea how I can figure out what it represents?”
“No formula, no labels as to what the data are?”
“Nope.”
Jeff paused for a moment. “You say two variables each column?”
“Yeah.”
“Multiple columns?”
“Yeah.” Dani saw Richard scroll to the right. “I count ten, maybe, twenty columns, maybe more.”
“Might be the data for a time-sequenced linear regression equation. Testing X versus Y variables against each other over time. It’s one way to do it. The other way is using a non-linear equation.”
“You lost me.”
“Somebody might be testing the same two variables against each other on a monthly or a yearly basis. Seeing what the correlation is, or how it changes based on time.”
“Why would somebody do that?”
“To prove that over time the correlation gets stronger or weaker. But that’s all you got? Just columns with X and Y variables?”
“I’m not even sure they’re X and Y variables.”
“You don’t have any labels down the left saying what they are, or labels across the columns at the top saying when they occur?”
“Nope.”
“Then sounds like you’re shit outta luck, my man. Listen, I gotta go.” Jeff hung up.
Dani saw Richard put his cell phone down. “We need to figure out what these data points represent, and over what time period they’re measured,” he said.
Dani sighed. Then she turned to him again. “You said we.” It wasn’t much but he said it. We. A small victory. I’ll take it. “What do we do now?”
“Don’t get cocky.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you. I need your help, but I also need someone to believe in me. This is scarier than you can imagine. And it hurts, knowing my family and friends are seeing me on the news as a potential murderer. You know what I mean?”
They rode in silence again for a few minutes. They passed some rock formations. The wet granite reminded her of Stoddard’s Peak, a 45° granite incline with crevices that were always wet, near Twin Lakes, that she’d climbed many times with Dad. Last fall she climbed it with Gabe for the first time. It had held no pleasure for her after Dad died, until she’d experienced it again with Gabe, the joy for her that he was seeing it. Just thinking about him made her smile. What she’d give to be there with him now, sitting atop Stoddard’s Peak eating sandwiches with him, talking about school, the Yankees. She felt a pleasant warmth in her chest. Dani hadn’t spoken with Gabe since she’d dropped him off at school yesterday morning. She rummaged in the Duane Reade bag for one of the prepaid cell phones. She pulled it out and dialed. Nothing happened. She was staring at it, confused when Richard said, “You need to log on to their website to register those things before they work.” Dani felt a spasm of fear, and must have showed it in her face because Richard added, “Don’t worry. You can put in any name you want. That way you can keep
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