a fucking mess," Berger said. "We're back to the original question - should we publish?"
Blomkvist held up his hand. "Wait. We could take a vote on this, but I happen to be the publisher who's responsible, and for the first time I think I'll make a decision all on my own. The answer is no. We can't publish this material in the next issue. It's unreasonable for us simply to go ahead according to plan."
Silence descended over the table.
"I really want to publish, obviously, but we are going to have to rewrite quite a bit. It was Dag and Mia who had the documentation, and the story was based on the fact that Mia intended to file a police report against the people we were going to name. She had expert knowledge. Have we got any information on this?"
The front door slammed and Cortez stood in the doorway.
"Is it Dag and Mia?" he asked, out of breath.
They all nodded.
"Christ. This is crazy."
"How did you hear about it?" Blomkvist said.
"I was on my way home with my girlfriend when we heard it on a taxi radio. The police have been asking for information on fares going to their street. I didn't recognize the address. I had to come in."
Cortez looked so shaken that Berger got up and gave him a hug and asked him to join them at the table.
"I think Dag would want us to publish his story," she said.
"And I agree that we should. Definitely the book. But under the circumstances, we'll have to push back the publication date."
"So what do we do?" Eriksson said. "It's not just one article that has to be switched - it's a whole themed issue. The whole magazine has to be remade."
Berger was quiet for a moment, then gave her first tired smile of the day.
"Had you planned to take Easter off, Malin?" she said. "Well, forget it. This is what we'll do... Malin, you and I - and Christer - will sit down and plan a new issue without Dag's material. We'll have to see if we can pry loose a few articles that we'd planned for June. Mikael, how much material did you get from Dag?"
"I've got final versions of nine out of twelve chapters. I have drafts of chapters ten and eleven. Dag was going to email me the final versions - I'll check my inbox - but I only have an outline of chapter twelve. That's the summary and the conclusions."
"But you and Dag had talked through every one of the chapters, right?"
"Yes, and I know what he was planning to write in the last chapter, if that's what you mean."
"OK, you'll have to sit down with the manuscripts - both the book and the articles. I want to know how much is missing and whether we can write whatever Dag didn't manage to deliver. Could you do an objective assessment today?"
Blomkvist nodded.
"I also need you to think about what we're going to tell the police. What is within limits and at what point do we risk breaking our confidentiality agreement with our sources. Nobody at Millennium should say anything to anyone outside the magazine without your approval."
"That sounds good," Blomkvist said.
"How likely do you think it is that Dag's book was the motive for the murders?"
"Or Mia's dissertation... I don't know. But we can't rule it out."
"No, we can't. You'll have to keep it together."
"Keep what together?"
"The investigation."
"What investigation?"
"Our investigation, damn it." Berger suddenly raised her voice. "Dag was a journalist and he was working for Millennium. If he was killed because of his job, I want to know about it. So we - as an editorial team - are going to have to dig into what happened. You'll take care of that part, looking for a motive for the murders in all the material Dag gave us." She turned to Eriksson. "Malin, if you help me outline a new issue today, then Christer and I will do the draft layout. But you've worked a lot with Dag and on other articles in the themed issue. I want you to keep an eye on developments in the murder investigation alongside Mikael."
Eriksson nodded.
"Henry... can you work today?"
"Sure."
"Start by calling the rest of our staff and tell them what's going on. Then go to the police and find out what's happening. Ask them if there's going to be a press conference or anything. We have to stay on top of the news."