She had been sitting with her back to him and did not turn around once, obviously
unaware that he was there. He felt strangely disturbed by her presence. When at
last he got up to slink away unnoticed, she suddenly turned and stared straight at
him, as though she had been aware all the time that he was sitting there and had
him on her radar. Her gaze had come so surprisingly that it felt like an attack, and
he pretended not to see her and hurriedly left the café. She had not said hello even,
but she followed him with her eyes, he was sure of it, and not until he turned the
corner did they stop burning into his neck.
She rarely laughed. But over time Armansky thought he noticed a softening of her
attitude. She had a dry sense of humour, to put it mildly, which could prompt a
crooked, ironic smile.
Armansky felt so provoked by her lack of emotional response that sometimes he
wanted to grab hold of her and shake her. To force his way into her shell and win
her friendship, or at least her respect.
Only once, after she had been working for him for nine months, had he tried to
discuss these feelings with her. It was at Milton Security’s Christmas party one
evening in December, and for once he was not sober. Nothing inappropriate had
happened—he had just tried to tell her that he actually liked her. Most of all he
wanted to explain that he felt protective towards her, and if she ever needed help
with anything, she should not hesitate to come to him. He had even tried to give
her a hug. All in friendliness, of course.
She had wriggled out of his clumsy embrace and left the party. After that she had
not appeared at the office or answered her mobile. Her absence had felt like
torture—almost a form of personal punishment. He had nobody to discuss his
feelings with, and for the first time he realised with appalling clarity what a
destructive hold she had over him.
Three weeks later, when Armansky was working late one evening going over the
year-end bookkeeping, Salander reappeared. She came into his office as silently as
a ghost, and he became aware that she was standing in the shadows inside the
doorway, watching him. He had no idea how long she had been there.
“Would you like some coffee?” she asked. She handed him a cup from the espresso
machine in the canteen. Mutely he accepted it, feeling both relief and terror when