“I saw you on TV a while ago.”
“Everybody seems to have seen me on TV.”
“Wennerström is...not very popular in this house.”
“Henrik mentioned that. I’m waiting to hear the rest of the story.”
“He told me a few days ago that he’d hired you.” Martin Vanger laughed. “He said it
was probably because of Wennerström that you took the job up here.”
Blomkvist hesitated before deciding to tell the truth. “That was one important
reason. But to be honest, I needed to get away from Stockholm, and Hedestad
cropped up at the right moment. At least I think so. I can’t pretend that the court
case never happened. And anyway, I’m going to have to go to prison.”
Martin Vanger nodded, suddenly serious. “Can you appeal?”
“It won’t do any good.”
Vanger glanced at his watch.
“I have to be in Stockholm tonight, so I must hurry away. I’ll be back in a few days.
Come over and have dinner. I’d really like to hear what actually went on during that
trial. Henrik is upstairs. Go right in.”
Vanger was sitting on a sofa in his office where he had the Hedestad Courier, Dagens
Industri, Svenska Dagbladet, and both national evening papers on the coffee table.
“I ran into Martin outside.”
“Rushing off to save the empire,” Vanger said. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please.” Blomkvist sat down, wondering why Vanger looked so amused.
“You’re mentioned in the paper.”
Vanger shoved across one of the evening papers, open at a page with the headline
“Media Short Circuit.” The article was written by a columnist who had previously
worked for Monopoly Financial Magazine, making a name for himself as one who