you’re actually an attractive man, and...I can also feel...But you’re my boss and I’ve
met your wife and I want to keep my job with you, and the most idiotic thing I
could do is get involved with you.”
Armansky said nothing, hardly daring to breathe.
“I’m aware of what you’ve done for me, and I’m not ungrateful. I appreciate that
you actually showed yourself to be greater than your prejudices and have given me
a chance here. But I don’t want you for my lover, and you’re not my father.”
After a while Armansky sighed helplessly. “What exactly do you want from me?”
“I want to continue working for you. If that’s OK with you.”
He nodded and then answered her as honestly as he could. “I really do want you to
work for me. But I also want you to feel some sort of friendship and trust in me.”
She nodded.
“You’re not a person who encourages friendship,” he said. She seemed to
withdraw, but he went on. “I understand that you don’t want anyone interfering in
your life, and I’ll try not to do that. But is it all right if I continue to like you?”
Salander thought about it for a long time. Then she replied by getting up, walking
around the desk, and giving him a hug. He was totally shocked. Only when she
released him did he take her hand.
“We can be friends?”
She nodded once.
That was the only time she ever showed him any tenderness, and the only time she
ever touched him. It was a moment that Armansky fondly remembered.
After four years she had still vouchsafed hardly a detail about her private life or her
background to Armansky. Once he applied his own knowledge of the pinder’s art
on her. He also had a long talk with Holger Palmgren—who did not seem surprised
to see him—and what he finally found out did not increase his trust in her. He
never mentioned a word about this to her or let her know that he had been
snooping into her life. Instead he hid his uneasiness and increased his
watchfulness.