The Girl Who Lived Twice Read Free

mobile and up came an image of the woman.
    Kadi Linder, psychologist and non-executive member of various boards. It didn’t give him much to go on and he was intrigued. But most of all he thought about Lisbeth, and he had only just managed to compose himself when Kadi Linder reappeared in the doorway. Now she was not only teasing, but curious too. Her eyes flicked back and forth. She was slim, with slender wrists and pronounced collarbones, and there was a waft of perfume in the air.
    “Go on, tell me. Did you really come to the wrong place?”
    “I’ll pass on that one,” he said. Not a good answer, he realized at once.
    But he understood from her smile that she had seen through his confusion and he wanted to get away, leaving as little as possible behind. Under no circumstances would he reveal that Lisbeth Salander had lived at this address under an assumed name, regardless of what Linder did or did not know.
    “That doesn’t make me any less curious,” she said.
    He laughed—as if the whole thing was a silly private matter.
    “So you’re not here to check me out? I mean, this place wasn’t exactly cheap.”
    “Unless you’ve cut off a horse’s head and left it in someone’s bed, I should probably leave you in peace.”
    “Can’t say I remember every detail of the negotiations, but I don’t think that came up.”
    “I’m happy to hear it. In that case I’ll wish you all the best,” he said with feigned ease. He wanted to leave together with the removal men who were on their way out of the apartment, but Linder evidently hoped to keep the conversation going and was nervously fiddling with her braids. It struck him that what he had construed as an irritating self-confidence might in fact be a cover for something quite different.
    “Do you know her?” she said.
    “Who?”
    “The woman who lived here.”
    He turned the question around.
    “Do you?”
    “No,” she said. “I don’t even know her name. But I still like her.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Despite all the chaos on the stock exchange, the bidding turned out to be pretty crazy. There was no way I was going to keep up, so I dropped out. But I still got the apartment because ‘the young lady’—as the lawyer called her—wanted me to have it. Believe it or not, it went through in two weeks!”
    “Extraordinary.”
    “Isn’t it?”
    “Maybe you’d done something the young lady liked?”
    “I’m actually best known in the media for having run-ins with old boys who sit on boards.”
    “It’s possible that she approves of that kind of thing.”
    “Maybe. If I can tempt you with a moving-in beer, we could talk about it. I have to say”—she hesitated again—“I loved your story about the twins. It was so touching.”
    “Thanks,” he said. “You’re very kind. But I really do have to go.”
    She nodded and he just managed a “See you.” He hardly could have said how he got away, only that he emerged into the summer evening. He didn’t notice the two new surveillance cameras over the street entrance, or even the hot-air balloon immediately above. He crossed Mosebacke and continued down towards Urvädersgränd. Only at Götgatan did he slow down, and he felt totally deflated. All that had happened was that Lisbeth had moved, which he should have welcomed. She was safer now. But instead of being glad for her, Blomkvist felt it like a slap in the face. It was absurd.
    She was Lisbeth Salander. She was who she was. But he felt hurt all the same. She could have given some indication. He reached for his mobile to send her a text, a question, but no, best let it go. He walked along Hornsgatan and saw that the youngest participants were already running their lap of the Midnattsloppet and he stared in astonishment at the number of parents cheering and clapping from the pavement, as if he simply could not understand their excitement. He had to concentrate to cross the street in a gap between the runners. Up on Bellmansgatan his thoughts