situation looks now, we have a crisis. Erika - we're going to need you to start on May 1, and certainly no later than May 15."
"God. That's only weeks away."
"Are you still interested?"
"Yes, of course... but that means I have only a month to tidy things up here at Millennium."
"I know. I'm sorry to do it, Erika, but I have to rush you. A month should be enough time to straighten out affairs at a magazine with only half a dozen employees."
"But it means leaving in the midst of a crisis."
"You'd have to leave in any case. All we're doing is bringing forward your departure date by a few weeks."
"I do have some conditions."
"Let me hear them."
"I'll have to remain on Millennium's board of directors."
"That might not be appropriate. Millennium is much smaller, of course, and a monthly magazine besides, but technically we're competitors."
"That can't be helped. I won't have anything to do with Millennium's editorial work, but I won't sell my share of the business. So I have to stay on the board."
"OK, we can probably deal with that."
They agreed to meet with his board during the first week of April to iron out the details and draw up a contract.
Blomkvist had a feeling of deja vu when he studied the list of suspects that he and Eriksson had put together over the weekend. Thirty-seven names, all people Dag Svensson was leaning on hard in his book, twenty-one of whom were johns he had identified.
It reminded Blomkvist of the gallery of suspects from when he had set out to track a murderer in Hedestad two years before.
At 10:00 on Tuesday morning he asked Eriksson to come into his office at Millennium. He closed the door behind her. They sat for a few moments, drinking their coffee. Then he passed her the list of names.
"What should we do?" Eriksson said.
"First we have to show the list to Erika - maybe in ten minutes. Then we have to check them off one by one. It's possible, it's even probable, that one of these people has a connection to the murders."
"And how do we check them off?"
"I'm thinking of focusing on the twenty-one johns. They have more to lose than the others. I'm thinking of following in Dag's footsteps, of going to see them one by one."
"And what do I do?"
"Two jobs. First, there are seven people here who aren't identified. Your assignment over the next couple of days is to try and identify them. Some of the names are in Mia's thesis; there may be ways of cross-referencing that would help you work out their real identities. Second, we know very little about Nils Bjurman, Lisbeth's guardian. There was a brief CV in the papers, but my guess is that half of it is made up."
"So I should ferret out his background."
"Precisely. Everything you can find."
Harriet Vanger called Blomkvist at 5:00 in the afternoon.
"Can you talk?"
"For a minute."
"This girl the police are looking for... it's the same one who helped you track me down, isn't it?"
Harriet Vanger and Salander had never met.
"That's right," Blomkvist said. "I'm sorry I haven't had time to call and update you. But, yes, she's the one."
"What does it mean?"
"As far as you're concerned? Nothing, I hope."
"But she knows everything about me and what happened."
"Yes, she knows everything that happened."
Harriet was quiet on the other end of the line.
"Harriet, I don't think she did it. I'm working on the assumption that she's innocent of all these murders. I trust her."
"If I'm to believe what's in the newspapers, then -"
"But you shouldn't believe what's in the papers. And as far as it affects you, it's quite simple: she gave her word that she would keep her mouth shut. I believe she'll keep that promise for the rest of her life. Everything I know about her tells me that she is extremely principled."
"And if she didn't do it?"
"I don't know. Harriet, I'm doing everything in my power to discover what actually happened. Don't worry."
"I'm not worried, but I do want to be prepared for the worst. How are you holding up, Mikael?"
"So-so. We've been going nonstop."
"Mikael... I'm in Stockholm right now. I'm flying to Australia tomorrow - I'll be gone for a month."
"I see."
"I'm at the hotel."
"I don't know, Harriet. I feel spread really thin. I have to work tonight and I wouldn't be very good company."
"You don't have to be good company. Come over and relax for a while."