actually on his way home and seldom went to bars, but he liked Svensson's company.
"Do you feel like going out for a beer?" he said.
Svensson looked again at the clock.
"Why not?" he said. "Gladly. A quick one. Let me leave a message for Mia. She's out with the girls and was going to pick me up on her way home."
They went to Kvarnen, mostly because it was comfortable and close by. Svensson chuckled as he composed the letter to Bjorck at Security Police HQ. Blomkvist looked dubiously at his easily amused colleague. They were lucky enough to get a table near the door. Each of them ordered a large glass of strong beer, and with their heads together they began to drink and discuss Svensson's book.
Blomkvist did not see Salander standing at the bar with Miriam Wu. Salander took a step back to put Mimmi between her and Blomkvist. She looked at him from behind Mimmi's shoulder.
She had not been in a bar since she came back and - just her luck - she had to run into him. Kalle Fucking Blomkvist. It was the first time she had seen him in more than a year.
"What's wrong?" Mimmi said.
"Nothing."
They kept talking. Or rather, Mimmi went on with her story about a dyke she had met on a trip to London a few years back. She had been visiting an art gallery and the situation had gotten funnier and funnier as Mimmi tried to pick her up. Salander nodded now and then, but as usual missed the point of the story.
Blomkvist had not changed much, she decided. He looked absurdly well-approachable and relaxed, but with a grave expression. He was listening to what his companion was saying, nodding now and then. It seemed to be a serious discussion.
Salander looked at Blomkvist's friend. A man with a blond crew cut several years younger than Blomkvist, who was talking intently. She had no idea who he was.
All of a sudden a whole group came up to Blomkvist's table and shook hands with him. Blomkvist got a pat on the cheek from a woman who said something everyone else laughed at. Blomkvist looked self-conscious, but he laughed too.
Salander scowled.
"You're not listening to what I'm saying," Mimmi said.
"Of course I am."
"You're terrible company in a bar. I give up. Should we go home and fuck instead?"
"In a bit," Salander said.
She moved a little closer to Mimmi and put a hand on her hip.
Mimmi looked down at her partner and said, "I feel like kissing you on the mouth."
"Don't do it."
"Are you afraid people will think you're a dyke?"
"I don't want to attract attention right now."
"Let's go home then."
"Not yet. Wait a while."
They did not have long to wait. Twenty minutes after they arrived, the man Blomkvist was with got a call on his mobile. They drained their glasses and stood up simultaneously.
"Check it out," Mimmi said. "That guy over there is Mikael Blomkvist. He was more famous than a rock star after the Wennerstrom affair."
"You don't say."
"Did you miss all that? It was about the time when you left the country."
"I've heard it mentioned."
Salander waited for another five minutes before she looked at Mimmi.
"You wanted to kiss me on the mouth."
Mimmi looked at her in surprise. "I was just teasing."
Salander stood on tiptoe and pulled Mimmi's face down to her level and gave her a long, deep kiss. When they separated there was applause.
"You're nuts, you know that?" Mimmi said.
Salander did not get home until 7:00 in the morning. She pulled out the neck of her T-shirt and sniffed. She thought about taking a shower but decided the hell with it, and instead left her clothes on the floor and went to bed. She slept till 4:00 in the afternoon, then got up and went down to Soderhallarna market and had breakfast.
She thought about Blomkvist, and about her reaction to suddenly finding herself in the same room as him. She had been annoyed at his presence, but she also discovered that it no longer hurt to see him. He had been transformed to a little blip on the horizon, a minor perturbation factor in her existence. There were worse disturbances in life.
But she wished she had had the guts to go up to him and say hello. Or possibly break his legs. She wasn't sure which.
Anyway, she was curious about what he was up to. She ran a few errands in the afternoon and came home around 7:00 p.m. She booted up her PowerBook and