call it, except to say that Millennium has a soul. This is the only board I'm proud to be a part of."
She fell silent for so long that Berger had to laugh.
"That sounds good. But you still haven't answered the question."
"This has been some of the wackiest, most absurd stuff I've ever been involved with, but I enjoy your company and I've had a great time. If you want me to stay on I gladly will."
"OK," Malm said. "We've been back and forth and we're all agreed. We'll buy you out."
Vanger's eyes widened. "You want to get rid of me?"
"When we signed the contract we had our heads on the block waiting for the axe. We had no choice. From the start we were counting the days until we could buy out your uncle."
Berger opened a file, laid some papers on the table, and pushed them over to Vanger, together with a cheque for exactly the sum due. Vanger read through the papers and without a word she signed them.
"All right, then," Berger said. "That was fairly painless. I want to put on record our gratitude to Henrik Vanger for all he did for Millennium. I hope you will convey this to him."
"I will," Harriet Vanger said in a neutral tone, betraying nothing of what she felt. She was both hurt and deeply disappointed that they had let her say that she wanted to stay and then had simply kicked her out.
"And now let me see if I can interest you in a completely different contract," Berger said.
She took out another set of papers and slid them across the table.
"We were wondering if you personally had any interest in being a partner at Millennium. The price would be the same as the sum you've just received. The agreement has no time limits or exception clauses. You would be a full partner with the same responsibilities as the rest of us."
Vanger raised her eyebrows. "Why this roundabout process?"
"It had to be done sooner or later," Malm said. "We could have renewed the old agreement a year at a time or until the board had an argument and put you out. But it was always a contract that would have to be dissolved."
Harriet leaned on her elbow and gave him a searching glance. She looked at Blomkvist and then at Berger.
"We signed our agreement with Henrik when we were in financial straits," Berger said. "We're offering you this agreement because we want to. And unlike the old one, it won't let us boot you out so easily in the future."
"That's a very big difference for us," Blomkvist said in a low voice, and that was his only contribution to the discussion.
"The fact is that we believe you add something to Millennium besides the financial underpinning implied by the name of Vanger," Berger said.
"You're smart and sensible and you come up with constructive solutions. Until now you've kept a low profile, almost like a guest visiting us once a quarter, but you represent for this board a stability and direction that we've never had before. You know business. Once you asked if you could trust me, and I wondered the same thing about you. By now we both know the answer. I like you and I trust you - we all do. We don't want you to be a part of us by way of some complicated legal mumbo jumbo. We want you as a partner and a real shareholder."
Harriet reached for the contract and spent five minutes reading through it. Finally she looked up.
"And all three of you are agreed?" she said.
Three heads nodded. Vanger lifted her pen and signed. She shoved the cheque back across the table, and Blomkvist tore it up.
The partners of Millennium had dinner together at Samir's Cauldron on Tavastgatan. It was a quiet party - to celebrate the new arrangement - with good wine and couscous with lamb. The conversation was relaxed, and Vanger was noticeably dazed. It felt a little like an uncomfortable first date: something is going to happen, but no-one knows exactly what it might be.
Vanger had to leave at 7:30. She excused herself by saying that she had to go to her hotel and get an early night. Berger was heading home to her husband and walked with her some of the way. They parted at Slussen. Blomkvist and Malm stayed on for a while before Malm excused himself and said that he too had to get home.