"Yellow Ballroom Ltd.? I was wondering what that could be."

"Our company. Here in Gibraltar I've hired a secretary and a promising young lawyer. They'll be here in half an hour, by the way."

"I know. Molly Flint, forty-one, and Brian Delaney, twenty-six."

"Do you want to meet them?"

"No. Is Brian your lover?"

"What? No." He looked shocked. "I don't mix--"

"Good."

"By the way, I'm not interested in young guys . . . inexperienced ones, I mean."

"No, you're more attracted to men with a tough attitude than to some snot-nosed kid. It's none of my business. But, Jeremy . . ."

"Yes?"

"Be careful."

Salander had not planned to stay in Gibraltar for more than two weeks; just long enough, she thought, to get her bearings. But she suddenly discovered that she had no idea what she was going to do or where she should go. She stayed for three months. She checked her email once a day and replied promptly to messages from Giannini on the few occasions her lawyer got in touch. She did not tell her where she was. She did not answer any other email.

She still went to Harry's Bar, but now she came in only for a beer or two in the evenings. She spent large parts of her days at the Rock Hotel, either on her balcony or in bed. She got together with a thirty-year-old Royal Navy officer, but it was a one-night stand and all in all an uninteresting experience.

She was bored.

Early in October she had dinner with MacMillan. They had met up only a few times during her stay. It was dark and they drank a fruity white wine and discussed what they should use her billions for. And then he surprised her by asking what was upsetting her.

She studied his face for a long time and pondered the matter. Then she, just as surprisingly, told him about her relationship with Miriam Wu, and how Mimmi had been beaten and almost killed. And she, Lisbeth, was to blame. Apart from one greeting sent by way of Giannini, Salander had not heard a word from Mimmi. And now she was in France.

MacMillan listened in silence.

"Are you in love with her?" he said at last.

Salander shook her head.

"No. I don't think I'm the type who falls in love. She was a friend. And we had good sex."

"Nobody can avoid falling in love," he said. "They might want to deny it, but friendship is probably the most common form of love."

She looked at him in astonishment.

"Will you get angry if I say something personal?"

"No."

"Go to Paris, for God's sake," he said.

She landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport at 2:30 in the afternoon, took the airport bus to the Arc de Triomphe, and spent two hours wandering around the nearby neighbourhoods trying to find a hotel room. She walked south towards the Seine and finally found a room at a small hotel, the Victor Hugo on rue Copernic.

She took a shower and called Miriam Wu. They met that evening at a bar near Notre-Dame. Mimmi was dressed in a white shirt and jacket. She looked fabulous. Salander instantly felt shy. They kissed each other on the cheek.

"I'm sorry I haven't called, and that I didn't come to the trial," Mimmi said.

"That's OK. The trial was behind closed doors anyway."

"I was in the hospital for three weeks, and then it was chaos when I got home to Lundagatan. I couldn't sleep. I had nightmares about that bastard Niedermann. I called my mother and told her I wanted to come here, to Paris."

Salander said she understood.

"Forgive me," Mimmi said.

"Don't be such an idiot. I'm the one who's come here to ask you to forgive me."

"For what?"

"I wasn't thinking. It never occurred to me that I was putting you in such danger by turning over my old apartment to you. It was my fault that you were almost murdered. You'd have every right to hate me."

Mimmi looked shocked. "Lisbeth, I never even gave it a thought. It was Ronald Niedermann who tried to murder me, not you."

They sat in silence for a while.

"All right," Salander said finally.

"Right," Mimmi said.

"I didn't follow you here because I'm in love with you," Salander said.

Mimmi nodded.

"We had great sex, but I'm not in love with you."

"Lisbeth, I think--"

"What I wanted to say was that I hope you . . . damn."

"What?"

"I don't have many friends. . . ."

Mimmi nodded. "I'm going to be in Paris for a while. My studies at home were a mess so I signed up at the university here instead. I'll probably stay at least one academic year. After that I don't know. But I'm going to go back to Stockholm. I'm still paying the service charges on Lundagatan and I mean to keep the apartment. If that's OK with you."

"It's your apartment. Do what you want with it."

"Lisbeth, you're a very special person," Mimmi said. "I'd still like to be your friend."

They talked for two hours. Salander did not have any reason to hide her past from Miriam Wu. The Zalachenko business was familiar to everyone who had access to a Swedish newspaper, and Mimmi had followed the story with great interest. She gave Salander a detailed account of what had happened in Nykvarn the night Paolo Roberto saved her life.

Then they went back to Mimmi's student lodgings near the university.

EPILOGUE: INVENTORY OF ESTATE

Friday, December 2-Sunday, December 18

Giannini met Salander in the bar of the Sodra theatre at 9:00. Salander was drinking beer and was already coming to the end of her second glass.

"Sorry I'm late," Giannini said, glancing at her watch. "I had to deal with another client."

"That's OK," said Lisbeth.

"What are you celebrating?"

"Nothing. I just feel like getting drunk."

Giannini looked at her sceptically and took a seat.

"Do you often feel that way?"

"I drank myself stupid after I was released, but I have no tendency to alcoholism. It just occurred to me that for the first time in my life I have a legal right to get drunk here in Sweden."

Giannini ordered a Campari.

"Do you want to drink alone," she said, "or would you like some company?"

"Preferably alone. But if you don't talk too much you can sit with me. I take it you don't feel like coming home with me and having sex."

"I beg your pardon?" Giannini said.

"No, I didn't think so. You're one of those insanely heterosexual people."

Giannini suddenly looked amused.

"That's the first time in my life that one of my clients has propositioned me."

"Are you interested?"

"No, not in the least, sorry. But thanks for the offer."

"So what was it you wanted, counsellor?"

"Two things. Either I quit as your lawyer here and now or you start answering your phone when I call. We've already had this discussion, when you were released."

Tags: Stieg Larsson Millennium Thriller
Source: readsnovelonline.net