Girl Who Played with Fire, The - Stieg Larsson [93]
“So what do we do?” Eriksson said. “It’s not just one article that has to be switched—it’s a whole themed issue. The whole magazine has to be remade.”
Berger was quiet for a moment, then gave her first tired smile of the day.
“Had you planned to take Easter off, Malin?” she said. “Well, forget it. This is what we’ll do … Malin, you and I—and Christer—will sit down and plan a new issue without Dag’s material. We’ll have to see if we can pry loose a few articles that we’d planned for June. Mikael, how much material did you get from Dag?”
“I’ve got final versions of nine out of twelve chapters. I have drafts of chapters ten and eleven. Dag was going to email me the final versions—I’ll check my inbox—but I only have an outline of chapter twelve. That’s the summary and the conclusions.”
“But you and Dag had talked through every one of the chapters, right?”
“Yes, and I know what he was planning to write in the last chapter, if that’s what you mean.”
“OK, you’ll have to sit down with the manuscripts—both the book and the articles. I want to know how much is missing and whether we can write whatever Dag didn’t manage to deliver. Could you do an objective assessment today?”
Blomkvist nodded.
“I also need you to think about what we’re going to tell the police. What is within limits and at what point do we risk breaking our confidentiality agreement with our sources. Nobody at Millennium should say anything to anyone outside the magazine without your approval.”
“That sounds good,” Blomkvist said.
“How likely do you think it is that Dag’s book was the motive for the murders?”
“Or Mia’s dissertation … I don’t know. But we can’t rule it out.”
“No, we can’t. You’ll have to keep it together.”
“Keep what together?”
“The investigation.”
“What investigation?”
“Our investigation, damn it.” Berger suddenly raised her voice. “Dag was a journalist and he was working for Millennium. If he was killed because of his job, I want to know about it. So we—as an editorial team—are going to have to dig into what happened. You’ll take care of that part, looking for a motive for the murders in all the material Dag gave us.” She turned to Eriksson. “Malin, if you help me outline a new issue today, then Christer and I will do the draft layout. But you’ve worked a lot with Dag and on other articles in the themed issue. I want you to keep an eye on developments in the murder investigation alongside Mikael.”
Eriksson nodded.
“Henry … can you work today?”
“Sure.”
“Start by calling the rest of our staff and tell them what’s going on. Then go to the police and find out what’s happening. Ask them if there’s going to be a press conference or anything. We have to stay on top of the news.”
“I’ll call everyone first. Then I’ll run home and take a shower. I’ll be back in forty-five minutes.”
“Let’s stay in touch all day.”
“Right,” Blomkvist said. “Are we finished? I have to make a call.”
Harriet Vanger was having breakfast on the glass veranda of Henrik Vanger’s house in Hedeby when her mobile rang. She answered without looking at the display.
“Good morning, Harriet,” said Blomkvist.
“Good heavens. I thought you were one of those people who never gets up before eight.”
“I don’t, as long as I have a chance to go to bed. Which I didn’t last night.”
“Has something happened?”
“You didn’t listen to the news?” Blomkvist gave her a report of the events of the night.
“That’s terrible. How are you holding up?”
“Thanks for asking. I’ve felt better. But the reason I’m calling is that you’re on Millennium’s board and should be informed. I’m guessing that some reporter will discover soon enough that I was the one who found Dag and Mia, and that will give rise to certain speculations, and when it leaks out that Dag was working on a massive exposé for Millennium, questions are going to be asked.”
“And you think I ought to be prepared. So, what should I say?”
“Tell the truth. You’ve been told what happened. You’re shocked about the murders, but you are not privy to the editorial work, so you cannot comment on any speculation.