“You mean that she is qualified to do personal investigations for Milton Security?”
“Not only that. She is by far the best researcher I’ve ever had.”
Bublanski put down his pen and frowned.
“It sounds as though you have… respect for her.”
Armansky looked at his hands. The question marked a fork in the road. He had always feared that Salander would end up in hot water sooner or later, but he could not conceive of her being mixed up in a double murder in Enskede – as the killer or in any other way. But what did he know about her private life? Armansky thought of her recent visit to his office in which she had cryptically explained that she had enough money to get by and did not need a job.
The wisest thing to do at that moment would be to distance himself, and above all Milton Security, from all contact with Salander. But then Salander was probably the loneliest person he knew.
“I have respect for her skills. You won’t find that in her school results or personal record.”
“So you know about her background.”
“The fact that she’s under guardianship and that she had a pretty confused upbringing, yes.”
“And yet you trusted her.”
“That is precisely why I trusted her.”
“Please explain.”
“Her previous guardian, Holger Palmgren, was old J. F. Milton’s lawyer. He took on her case when she was a teenager, and he persuaded me to give her a job. I employed her initially to sort the mail and look after the photocopier, things like that. But she turned out to have unbelievable talents. And you can forget any report that says she may have been a prostitute. That’s nonsense. Lisbeth had a difficult period in her teens and was undoubtedly a bit wild – but that’s not the same as breaking the law. Prostitution is probably the last thing in the world she would turn to.”
“Her current guardian is a lawyer by the name of Nils Bjurman.”
“I’ve never met him. Palmgren had a cerebral haemorrhage a couple of years ago. Lisbeth cut back on the work she did for me quite soon after that happened. The last job she did was in October a year and a half ago.”
“Why did you stop employing her?”
“It wasn’t my choice. She was the one who broke off contact and disappeared abroad. Without a word of explanation.”
“Disappeared abroad?”
“She was gone for about a year.”
“That can’t be right. Bjurman sent in monthly reports on her for all of last year. We have copies up at Kungsholmen.”
Armansky shrugged and smiled.
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“In early February. She popped up out of nowhere and paid me a social visit. She spent all of last year out of the country, travelling in Asia and the Caribbean.”
“Forgive me, but I’m getting a little muddled here. I had the impression that this Lisbeth Salander was a mentally ill girl who hadn’t even finished school and who was under guardianship. Now you tell me that you trusted her as an exceptional researcher, that she has her own business, and that she earned enough money to take a year off and travel around the world, all without her guardian sounding the alarm. Something doesn’t add up here.”
“There’s quite a bit that doesn’t add up regarding Froken Salander.”
“May I ask… what is your overall opinion of her?”
Armansky thought for a while. Finally he said: “She’s one of the most irritating, inflexible people I’ve met in my whole life.”
“Inflexible?”
“She won’t do anything she doesn’t want to do. She doesn’t give a damn what other people think of her. She is tremendously skilled. And she is unlike anyone I’ve ever met.”
“Is she unbalanced?”
“How do you define unbalanced?”
“Is she capable of murdering two people in cold blood?”
Armansky was quiet for a long time. “I’m sorry. I can’t answer that question. I’m a cynic. I believe that everyone has it in them to kill another person. In desperation or hatred, or at least to defend themselves.”
“You don’t discount the possibility, at any rate.”
“Lisbeth Salander will not do anything unless she has a good reason for it. If she murdered someone, then she must have felt that she had a very good reason to do so. On what grounds do you suspect her of being involved in these murders?”
Bublanski met Armansky’s gaze.
“Can we keep this confidential?”
“Absolutely”
“The murder weapon belonged to her guardian. And her fingerprints were on it.”
Armansky clenched his teeth. That was serious circumstantial evidence.
“I’ve only heard about the murders on the radio. What was it about? Drugs?”
“Is she mixed up with drugs?”
“Not that I know of. But, as I said, she went through a bad time in her teens, and she was arrested a few times for being drunk. Her record will tell you whether drugs were involved.”
“We don’t have a motive for the murders. They were a conscientious couple. She was a criminologist and was just about to get her doctorate. He was a journalist. Dag Svensson and Mia Johansson. Do those names ring any bells?”
Armansky shook his head.
“We’re trying to find a connection between them and Lisbeth Salander.”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
Bublanski stood up. “Thanks for your time. It’s been a fascinating conversation. I don’t know how much the wiser I am for it, but I hope we can keep all of this between ourselves.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll get back to you if necessary. And of course, if Salander should get in touch…”
“Certainly,” Armansky said.
They shook hands. Bublanski was on his way out the door when he stopped.
“You don’t happen to know anyone that Salander associates with, do you? Friends, acquaintances…”
Armansky shook his head.
“I don’t know a single thing about her private life. Except that her old guardian meant something to her. Holger Palmgren. He’s in a nursing home in Ersta. She might have made contact with him since she came back.”
“She never had visitors when she was working here? Would there be a record of that?”
“No. She worked from home mainly and came in only to present her reports. With a few exceptions, she never even met the clients. Possibly…” Armansky was struck by a thought.
“What?”
“There is just possibly one other person she may have got in touch with, a journalist she knew a couple of years ago. He was looking for her when she was out of the country.”
“A journalist?”
“His name is Mikael Blomkvist. Do you remember the Wennerstrom affair?”
Bublanski came slowly back into Armansky’s office.
“It was Blomkvist who discovered the couple in Enskede. You’ve just established a link between Salander and the murder victims.”
Armansky again felt the solid pain of the lump in his stomach.
