Frode looked at the sleeping figure. He saw the black and blue marks on
Blomkvist’s face and the contusions on his chest. Then he saw the flaming line
where the noose had been. Salander touched his arm and closed the door. Frode
backed out and sank on to the kitchen bench.
Lisbeth Salander told him succinctly what had happened during the night. She told
him what Martin Vanger’s chamber of horrors looked like and how she had found
Mikael with a noose around his neck and the CEO of the Vanger Corporation
standing in front of his naked body. She told him what she had found in the
company’s archives the day before and how she had established a possible link
between Martin’s father and the murders of at least seven women.
Frode interrupted her recitation only once. When she stopped talking, he sat
mutely for several minutes before he took a deep breath and said: “What are we
going to do?”
“That’s not for me to say,” Salander said.
“But...”
“As I see it, I’ve never set foot in Hedestad.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Under no circumstances do I want my name in any police report. I don’t exist in
connection with any of this. If my name is mentioned in connection with this story,
I’ll deny that I’ve ever been here, and I’ll refuse to answer a single question.”
Frode gave her a searching look.
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to understand.”
“Then what should I do?”