"that won't make her happy."

"no, but it's necessary. we have to take in some new partners and new blood. we also have the chance to collaborate with her company in australia. there are possibilities."

"where's harriet today?"

"you're out of luck. she's in london. but she would very much like to see you."

"i'll see her at our board meeting in january if she's going to take your place."

"i know."

"i think that she realises that i will never discuss what happened in the sixties with anyone except for erika berger, and i don't see why erika needs to know."

"she does. you're a person with morals, mikael."

"but also tell her that everything she does from now on could end up in the magazine. the vanger corporation won't have a free pass from scrutiny."

"i'll warn her."

blomkvist left vanger when he started to doze off. he packed his belongings into two suitcases. as he closed the door to the cottage for the last time, he paused and then went over to cecilia's house and knocked. she was not home. he took out his pocket calendar, tore out a page, and wrote: i wish you all the best. try to forgive me. mikael. he put the note in her letter box. an electric christmas candle shone in the kitchen window of martin vanger's empty house.

he took the last train back to stockholm.

during the holidays salander tuned out the rest of the world. she did not answer her telephone and she did not turn on her computer. she spent two days washing laundry, scrubbing, and cleaning up her apartment. year-old pizza boxes and newspapers were bundled up and carried downstairs. she dragged out a total of six black rubbish bags and twenty paper bags full of newspapers. she felt as if she had decided to start a new life. she thought about buying a new apartment - when she found something suitable - but for now her old place would be more dazzlingly clean than she could ever remember.

then she sat as if paralysed, thinking. she had never in her life felt such a longing. she wanted mikael blomkvist to ring the doorbell and... what then? lift her off the ground, hold her in his arms? passionately take her into the bedroom and tear off her clothes? no, she really just wanted his company. she wanted to hear him say that he liked her for who she was. that she was someone special in his world and in his life. she wanted him to give her some gesture of love, not just of friendship and companionship. i'm flipping out, she thought.

she had no faith in herself. blomkvist lived in a world populated by people with respectable jobs, people with orderly lives and lots of grown-up points. his friends did things, went on tv, and shaped the headlines. what do you need me for? salander's greatest fear, which was so huge and so black that it was of phobic proportions, was that people would laugh at her feelings. and all of a sudden all her carefully constructed self-confidence seemed to crumble.

that's when she made up her mind. it took her several hours to mobilise the necessary courage, but she had to see him and tell him how she felt.

anything else would be unbearable.

she needed some excuse to knock on his door. she had not given him any christmas present, but she knew what she was going to buy. in a junk shop she had seen a number of metal advertising signs from the fifties, with embossed images. one of the signs showed elvis presley with a guitar on his hip and a cartoon balloon with the words heartbreak hotel. she had no sense for interior design, but even she could tell that the sign would be perfect for the cabin in sandhamn. it cost 780 kronor, and on principle she haggled and got the price knocked down to 700. she had it wrapped, put it under her arm, and headed over to his place on bellmansgatan.

at hornsgatan she happened to glance towards kaffebar and saw blomkvist coming out with berger in tow. he said something, and she laughed, putting her arm around his waist and kissing his cheek. they turned down brannkyrkagatan in the direction of bellmansgatan. their body language left no room for misinterpretations - it was obvious what they had in mind.

the pain was so immediate and so fierce that lisbeth stopped in mid-stride, incapable of movement. part of her wanted to rush after them. she wanted to take the metal sign and use the sharp edge to cleave berger's head in two. she did nothing as thoughts swirled through her mind. analysis of consequences. finally she calmed down.

"what a pathetic fool you are, salander," she said out loud.

she turned on her heel and went home to her newly spotless apartment. as she passed zinkensdamm, it started to snow. she tossed elvis into a dumpster.