Blomkvist reached across and stroked her hair.
“You’re not alone. You’ve got Christer and the rest of the staff behind you.”
“Not Janne Dahlman. By the way, I think you made a mistake hiring him. He’s
competent, but he does more harm than good. I don’t trust him. He went around
looking gleeful about your troubles all autumn. I don’t know if he hopes he can
take over your role or whether it’s just personal chemistry between him and the
rest of the staff.”
“I’m afraid you’re right,” Blomkvist said.
“So what should I do? Fire him?”
“Erika, you’re editor in chief and the senior shareholder of Millennium. If you have
to, fire him.”
“We’ve never fired anyone, Micke. And now you’re dumping this decision on me
too. It’s no fun any more going to the office in the morning.”
At that point Malm surprised them by standing up.
“If you’re going to catch that train we’ve got to get moving.” Berger began to
protest, but he held up a hand. “Wait, Erika, you asked me what I thought. Well, I
think the situation is shitty. But if things are the way Mikael says—that he’s about
to hit the wall—then he really does have to leave for his own sake. We owe him
that much.”
They stared at Malm in astonishment and he gave Blomkvist an embarrassed look.
“You both know that it’s you two who are Millennium. I’m a partner and you’ve
always been fair with me and I love the magazine and all that, but you could easily
replace me with some other art director. But since you asked for my opinion, there
you have it. As far as Dahlman is concerned, I agree with you. And if you want to
fire him, Erika, then I’ll do it for you. As long as we have a credible reason. Obviously
it’s extremely unfortunate that Mikael’s leaving right now, but I don’t think we have
a choice. Mikael, I’ll drive you to the station. Erika and I will hold the fort until you
get back.”
“What I’m afraid of is that Mikael won’t ever come back,” Berger said quietly.