The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (63 page)

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Not right now. Wait a couple of weeks, at least until I’ve got the story organised. Besides, I’m expecting company.

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In that case, of course I’ll stay away. But I have to know what’s going on. Henrik Vanger has become CEO again, and he doesn’t answer my calls. If the deal with Vanger is off, I absolutely need to know. Ricky

P.S. Who is she?

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First of all: no question of Henrik pulling out. But he is still working only a short day, and I’m guessing that the chaos after Martin’s death and Harriet’s resurrection is taking its toll on his strength.

Second:
Millennium
will survive. I’m working on the most important report of our lives, and when we publish it, it’s going to sink Wennerström once and for all.

Third: My life is up and down right now, but as for you and me and
Millennium
—nothing has changed. Trust me. Kisses/Mikael.

P.S. I’ll introduce you as soon as an opportunity presents itself.

When Salander went out to Sandhamn she found an unshaven and hollow-eyed Blomkvist, who gave her a quick hug and asked her to make some coffee and wait while he finished what he was writing.

Salander looked around his cabin and decided almost at once that she liked it. It was right next to a jetty, with the water three paces from the door. It was only fifteen by eighteen feet but it had such a high ceiling that there was space for a sleeping loft. She could stand up straight there, just. Blomkvist would have to stoop. The bed was wide enough for both of them.

The cabin had one large window facing the water, right next to the front door. That was where his kitchen table stood, doubling as his desk. On the wall near the desk was a shelf with a CD player and a big collection of Elvis and hard rock, which was not Salander’s first choice.

In a corner was a woodstove made of soapstone with a glazed front. The rest of the sparse furnishings consisted of a large wardrobe for clothes and linen and a sink that also functioned as a washing alcove behind a shower curtain. Near the sink was a small window on one side of the cabin. Under the spiral stairs to the loft Blomkvist had built a separate space for a composting toilet. The whole cabin was arranged like the cabin on a boat, with clever cubbyholes for stowing things.

During her personal investigation of Mikael Blomkvist, Salander had found out that he had remodelled the cabin and built the furniture himself—a conclusion drawn from the comments of an acquaintance who had sent Mikael an email after visiting Sandhamn and was impressed by his handiwork. Everything was clean, unpretentious, and simple, bordering on spartan. She could see why he loved this cabin in Sandhamn so much.

After two hours she managed to distract Mikael enough that he turned off his computer in frustration, shaved, and took her out for a guided tour. It was raining and windy, and they quickly retreated to the inn. Blomkvist told her what he was writing, and Salander gave him a CD with updates from Wennerström’s computer.

Then she took him up to the loft and managed to get his clothes off and distract him even further. She woke up late that night to find herself alone. She peered down from the loft and saw him sitting hunched over his computer. She lay there for a long time, leaning on one hand, watching him. He seemed happy, and she too felt strangely content with life.

Salander stayed only five days before she went back to Stockholm to do a job for Armansky. She spent eleven days on the assignment, made her report, and then returned to Sandhamn. The stack of printed pages next to Mikael’s iBook was growing.

This time she stayed for four weeks. They fell into a routine. They got up at 8:00, ate breakfast, and spent an hour together. Then Mikael worked intently until late in the afternoon, when they took a walk and talked. Salander spent most of the days in bed, either reading books or surfing the Net using Blomkvist’s ADSL modem. She tried not to disturb him during the day. They ate dinner rather late and only then did Salander take the initiative and force him up to the sleeping loft, where she saw to it that he devoted all his attention to her.

It was as if she were on the very first holiday of her life.

Encrypted email from <
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Hi M. It’s now official. Janne Dahlman has resigned and starts working at
Monopoly Financial Magazine
in three weeks. I’ve done as you asked and said nothing, and everyone is going around playing monkey games. E.

P.S. They seem to be having fun. Henry and Lotta had a fight and started throwing things at each other a couple of days ago. They’ve been messing with Dahlman’s head so blatantly that I can’t understand how he can miss seeing that it’s all a put-up job.

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Wish him good luck from me, will you, and let him go straight away. But lock up the silverware. Hugs and kisses/M.

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I have no managing editor two weeks before we go to press, and my investigative reporter is sitting out in Sandhamn refusing to talk to me. Micke, I’m on my knees. Can you come in?/Erika.

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Hold out another couple of weeks, then we’ll be home free. And start planning for a December issue that’s going to be unlike anything we’ve ever done. The piece will take up 40 pages. M.

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40 PAGES!!! Are you out of your mind?

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It’s going to be a special issue. I need three more weeks. Could you do the following: (1) register a publishing company under the
Millennium
name, (2) get an ISBN number, (3) ask Christer to put together a cool logo for our new publishing company, and (4) find a good printer that can produce a paperback quickly and cheaply. And by the way, we’re going to need capital to print our first book. Kisses/Mikael