Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson Page A

never act on it.”
    She was still waiting.
    “Between us—yes, there have been times when I have felt attracted to you. I can’t explain it, but that’s the way it is. For some reason I don’t really understand, I like you a lot. But it’s not a physical thing.”
    “That’s good. Because it’ll never happen.”
    Armansky laughed. The first time she had said something personal and it was the most disheartening news a man could imagine receiving. He struggled to find the right words.
    “Lisbeth, I understand that you’re not interested in an old man of fifty plus.”
    “I’m not interested in an old man of fifty plus
who’s my boss
.” She held up a hand. “Wait, let me speak. You’re sometimes stupid and maddeninglybureaucratic, but you’re actually an attractive man, and … I can also feel … But you’re my boss and I’ve met your wife and I want to keep my job with you, and the most idiotic thing I could do is get involved with you.”
    Armansky said nothing, hardly daring to breathe.
    “I’m aware of what you’ve done for me, and I’m not ungrateful. I appreciate that you actually showed yourself to be greater than your prejudices and have given me a chance here. But I don’t want you for my lover, and you’re not my father.”
    After a while Armansky sighed helplessly. “What exactly do you want from me?”
    “I want to continue working for you. If that’s OK with you.”
    He nodded and then answered her as honestly as he could. “I really do want you to work for me. But I also want you to feel some sort of friendship and trust in me.”
    She nodded.
    “You’re not a person who encourages friendship,” he said. She seemed to withdraw, but he went on. “I understand that you don’t want anyone interfering in your life, and I’ll try not to do that. But is it all right if I continue to like you?”
    Salander thought about it for a long time. Then she replied by getting up, walking around the desk,and giving him a hug. He was totally shocked. Only when she released him did he take her hand.
    “We can be friends?”
    She nodded once.
    That was the only time she ever showed him any tenderness, and the only time she ever touched him. It was a moment that Armansky fondly remembered.
    After four years she had still vouchsafed hardly a detail about her private life or her background to Armansky. Once he applied his own knowledge of the
pinder
’s art on her. He also had a long talk with Holger Palmgren—who did not seem surprised to see him—and what he finally found out did not increase his trust in her. He never mentioned a word about this to her or let her know that he had been snooping into her life. Instead he hid his uneasiness and increased his watchfulness.
    Before that strange evening was over, Armansky and Salander had come to an agreement. In future she would do research projects for him on a freelance basis. She would receive a small monthly income whether she did any assignments or not. The real money would be made when she was paid per assignment. She could work the way shewanted to; in return she pledged never to do anything that might embarrass him or risk subjecting Milton Security to scandal.
    For Armansky this was a solution that was advantageous to him, the company, and Salander herself. He cut the troublesome PI department down to a single full-time employee, an older colleague who handled routine jobs perfectly well and ran credit checks. All complicated or tricky assignments he turned over to Salander and a few other freelancers who—in the last resort—were independent contractors for whom Milton Security had actually no responsibility. Since he regularly engaged her services, she earned a good salary. It could have been much higher, but Salander worked only when she felt like it.
    Armansky accepted her as she was, but she was not allowed to meet the clients. Today’s assignment was an exception.
    Salander was dressed for the day in a black T-shirt with a picture