Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, The - Stieg Larsson [20]
There was absolute silence in the room.
“The selection of a new editor-in-chief will have to be discussed and made by the board. It’s something that you all on the staff will have to talk through.”
“Mikael,” Malm said.
“No. Never Mikael. He’s surely the worst possible editor-in-chief you could pick. He’s perfect as publisher and damned good at editing articles and tying up loose ends in work that is going to be published. He’s the fixer. The editor-in-chief has to be the one who takes the initiative. Mikael also has a tendency to bury himself in his own stories and be totally off the radar for weeks at a time. He’s at his best when things heat up, but he’s incredibly bad at routine work. You all know that.”
Malm muttered his assent and then said: “Millennium functioned because you and Mikael were a good balance for each other.”
“That’s not the only reason. You remember when Mikael was up in Hedestad sulking for almost a whole bloody year. Millennium functioned without him precisely the way the magazine is going to have to function without me now.”
“O.K. What’s your plan?”
“My choice would be for you, Christer, to take over as editor-inchief.”
“Not on your life.” Malm threw up his hands.
“But since I knew that’s what you would say, I have another solution. Malin. You can start as acting editor-in-chief as from today.”
“Me?” Eriksson said. She sounded shocked.
“Yes, you. You’ve been damned good as assistant editor.”
“But I—”
“Give it a try. I’ll be out of my office tonight. You can move in on Monday morning. The May issue is done – we’ve already worked hard on it. June is a double issue, and then you have a month off. If it doesn’t work, the board will have to find somebody else for August. Henry … you’ll have to go full-time and take Malin’s place as assistant editor. Then we’ll need to hire a new employee. But that will be up to all of you, and to the board.”
She studied the group thoughtfully.
“One more thing. I’ll be starting at another publication. For all practical purposes, S.M.P. and Millennium are not competitors, but nevertheless I don’t want to know any more than I already do about the content of the next two issues. All such matters should be discussed with Malin, effective immediately.”
“What should we do about this Salander story?” Cortez said.
“Discuss it with Mikael. I know something about Salander, but I’m putting what I know in mothballs. I won’t take it to S.M.P.”
Berger suddenly felt an enormous wave of relief. “That’s about it,” she said, and she ended the meeting by getting up and going back to her office without another word.
Millennium’s staff sat in silence.
It was not until an hour later that Eriksson knocked on Berger’s door.
“Hello there.”
“Yes?” said Berger.
“The staff would like to have a word.”
“What is it?”
“Out here.”
Berger got up and went to the door. They had set a table with cake and Friday afternoon coffee.
“We think we should have a party and give you a real send-off in due course,” Malm said. “But for now, coffee and cake will have to do.”
Berger smiled, for the first time in a long time.
CHAPTER 3
Friday, 8.iv – Saturday, 9.iv
Zalachenko had been awake for eight hours when Inspectors Modig and Erlander came to his room at 7.00 in the evening. He had undergone a rather extensive operation in which a significant section of his jaw was realigned and fixed with titanium screws. His head was wrapped in so many bandages that you could see only his left eye and a narrow slit of mouth. A doctor had explained that the axe blow had crushed his cheekbone and damaged his forehead, peeling off a large part of the flesh on the right side of his face and tugging at his eye socket. His injuries were