“Evil Fingers” would listen. They would also stand up for her. But they had no clue
that Salander had a district court order declaring her non compos mentis. She
didn’t want them to be eyeing her the wrong way, too. Not an option.
Apart from that, she did not have a single ex-classmate in her address book. She
had no network or support group or political contacts of any kind. So who could
she turn to and tell about her problems?
There might be one person. She deliberated for a long time about whether she
should confide in Dragan Armansky. He had told her that if she needed help with
anything, she should not hesitate to come to him. And she was sure that he meant
it.
Armansky had groped her one time too, but it had been a friendly groping, no ill
intentions, and not a demonstration of power. But to ask him for help went against
the grain. He was her boss, and it would put her in his debt. Salander toyed with
the idea of how her life would take shape if Armansky were her guardian instead of
Bjurman. She smiled. The idea was not unpleasant, but Armansky might take the
assignment so seriously that he would smother her with attention. That was...well,
possibly an option.
Even though she was well aware of what a women’s crisis centre was for, it never
occurred to her to turn to one herself. Crisis centres existed, in her eyes,
for victims, and she had never regarded herself as a victim. Consequently, her only
remaining option was to do what she had always done—take matters in her own
hands and solve her problems on her own. That was definitely an option.
And it did not bode well for Herr Advokat Nils Bjurman.
CHAPTER 13
Thursday, February 20–Friday, March 7
During the last week of February Salander acted as her own client, with Bjurman,
N., born 1950, as a high-priority special project. She worked almost sixteen hours
every day doing a more thorough personal investigation than she had ever done
before. She made use of all the archives and public documents she could lay her