her decision was final.
She got the board to approve two decisions and enter them in the minutes. Magnus Borgsjo would be asked to vacate his position as chairman, effective immediately, and Anders Holm would be appointed acting editor-in-chief. Then she excused herself and left the board members to discuss the situation among themselves.
At 2.00 she went down to the personnel department and had a contract drawn up. Then she went to speak to Sebastian Strandlund, the culture editor, and the reporter Eva Karlsson.
"As far as I can tell, you consider Eva to be a talented reporter."
"That's true," said Strandlund.
"And in your budget requests over the past two years you've asked that your staff be increased by at least two."
"Correct."
"Eva, in view of the email to which you were subjected, there might be ugly rumours if I were to hire you full-time. But are you still interested?"
"Of course."
"In that case my last act here at S.M.P. will be to sign this employment contract."
"Your last act?"
"It's a long story. I'm leaving today. Could you two be so kind as to keep quiet about it for an hour or so?"
"What..."
"There'll be a memo coming around soon."
Berger signed the contract and pushed it across the desk towards Karlsson.
"Good luck," she said, smiling.
"The older man who participated in the meeting with Ekstrom on Saturday is Georg Nystrom, a police superintendent," Figuerola said as she put the surveillance photographs from Modig's mobile on Edklinth's desk.
"Superintendent," Edklinth muttered.
"Stefan identified him last night. He went to the apartment on Artillerigatan."
"What do we know about him?"
"He comes from the regular police and has worked for S.I.S. since 1983. Since 1996 he's been serving as an investigator with his own area of responsibility. He does internal checks and examines cases that S.I.S. has completed."
"O.K."
"Since Saturday morning six persons of interest have been to the building. Besides Sandberg and Nystrom, Clinton is definitely operating from there. This morning he was taken by ambulance to have dialysis."
"Who are the other three?"
"A man named Otto Hallberg. He was in S.I.S. in the '80s but he's actually connected to the Defence General Staff. He works for the navy and the military intelligence service."
"I see. Why am I not surprised?"
Figuerola laid down one more photograph. "This man we haven't identified yet. He went to lunch with Hallberg. We'll have to see if we can get a better picture when he goes home tonight. But the most interesting one is this man." She laid another photograph on the desk.
"I recognize him," Edklinth said.
"His name is Wadensjoo."
"Precisely. He worked on the terrorist detail around fifteen years ago. A desk man. He was one of the candidates for the post of top boss here at the Firm. I don't know what became of him."
"He resigned in 1991. Guess who he had lunch with an hour or so ago."
She put her last photograph on the desk.
"Chief of Secretariat Shenke and Chief of Budget Gustav Atterbom. I want to have surveillance on these gentlemen around the clock. I want to know exactly who they meet."
"That's not practical," Edklinth said. "I have only four men available."
Edklinth pinched his lower lip as he thought. Then he looked up at Figuerola.
"We need more people," he said. "Do you think you could reach Inspector Bublanski discreetly and ask him if he might like to have dinner with me today? Around 7.00, say?"
Edklinth then reached for his telephone and dialled a number from memory.
"Hello, Armansky. It's Edklinth. Might I reciprocate for that wonderful dinner? No, I insist. Shall we say 7.00?"
Salander had spent the night in Kronoberg prison in a two-by-four-metre cell. The furnishings were pretty basic, but she had fallen asleep within minutes of the key being turned in the lock. Early on Monday morning she was up and obediently doing the stretching exercises prescribed for her by the physio at Sahlgrenska. Breakfast was then brought to her, and she sat on her cot and stared into space.
At 9.30 she was led to an interrogation cell at the end of the corridor. The guard was a short, bald, old man with a round face and hornrimmed glasses. He was polite and cheerful.
Giannini greeted her affectionately. Salander ignored Faste. She was meeting Prosecutor Ekstrom for the first time, and she spent the next half hour sitting on a chair staring stonily at a spot on the wall just above Ekstrom's head. She said nothing and she did not move a muscle.
At 10.00 Ekstrom broke off the fruitless interrogation. He was annoyed not to be able