Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The - Stieg Larsson [212]
An idea had occurred to her and she could not let it go. Most of all she wondered why it had not occurred to her sooner.
In late October Mikael turned off his computer when it was only 11:00 in the morning. He climbed up to the sleeping loft and handed Salander what he had written. Then he fell asleep. She woke him that evening and gave him her opinion of the article.
Just after 2:00 in the morning, Blomkvist made the last backup of his work.
The next day he closed the shutters on the windows and locked up. Salander’s holiday was over. They went back to Stockholm together.
He brought up the subject as they were drinking coffee from paper cups on the Vaxholm ferry.
“What the two of us need to decide is what to tell Erika. She’s going to refuse to publish this if I can’t explain how I got hold of the material.”
Erika Berger. Blomkvist’s editor in chief and long-time lover. Salander had never met her and was not sure that she wanted to either. Berger seemed like some indefinable disturbance in her life.
“What does she know about me?”
“Nothing.” He sighed. “The fact is that I’ve been avoiding her ever since the summer. She’s very frustrated about the fact that I couldn’t tell her what happened in Hedestad. She knows, of course, that I’ve been staying out at Sandhamn and writing this story, but she doesn’t know what it’s about.”
“Hmm.”
“In a couple of hours she’ll have the manuscript. Then she’s going to give me the third degree. The question is, what should I tell her?”
“What do you want to tell her?”
“I’d like to tell her the truth.”
Salander frowned.
“Lisbeth, Erika and I argue almost all the time. It seems to be part of how we communicate. But she’s absolutely trustworthy. You’re a source. She would rather die than reveal who you are.”
“How many others would you have to tell?”
“Absolutely no-one. It will go to the grave with me and Erika. But I won’t tell her your secret if you don’t want me to. On the other hand, it’s not an option for me to lie to Erika, make up some source that doesn’t exist.”
Salander thought about it until they docked by the Grand Hotel. Analysis of consequences. Reluctantly she finally gave Blomkvist permission to introduce her to Erika. He switched on his mobile and made the call.
Berger was lunching with Malin Eriksson, whom she was considering hiring as managing editor. Eriksson was twenty-nine years old and had been working as a temp for five years. She had never held a permanent job and had started to doubt that she ever would. Berger called her on the very day that Malin’s latest temp job ended to ask if she would like to apply for the Millennium position.
“It’s a temporary post for three months,” Berger said. “But if things work out, it could be permanent.”
“I’ve heard rumours that Millennium is having a difficult time.”
Berger smiled.
“You shouldn’t believe rumours.”
“This Dahlman that I would be replacing…” Eriksson hesitated. “He’s going to work at a magazine owned by Hans-Erik Wennerström…”
Berger nodded. “It’s hardly a trade secret that we’re in conflict with Wennerström. He doesn’t like people who work for Millennium.”
“So if I take the job at Millennium, I would end up in that category too.”
“It’s very likely, yes.”
“But Dahlman got a job with Monopoly Financial Magazine, didn’t he?”
“You might say that it’s Wennerström’s way of paying for services rendered. Are you still interested?”
Eriksson nodded.
“When do you want me to start?”
That’s when Blomkvist called.
She used her own key to open the door to his apartment. It was the first time since his brief visit to the office at Midsummer that she was meeting him face to face. She went into the living room and found an anorexically thin girl sitting on the sofa, wearing a worn leather jacket and with her feet propped up on the coffee table. At first she thought the girl