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"Do you never clean up?" he said

He had filled the sink with dirty dishes and ashtrays; he had put the old milk cartons into a rubbish sack and cleared the table of five weeks of newspapers; he had washed the table clean and put out els OK, let’s see where this is heading She sat down opposite him

"You didn’t answer etarian?"

"Roast beef"

"Then I’ll take the turkey"

They ate in silence, scrutinising each other When she finished her bagel, she also ate half of the vegetarian one She picked up a cru one out

He broke the silence "I ations, but at least I’ve found out that you’re not a vegetarian or - as Herr Frode thought - anorexic I’ll include that information in my report"

Salander stared at hiave him a crooked smile The situation was beyond all rhyme or reason She sipped her coffee He had kind eyes She decided that whatever else he ht be, he did not see in the PI she had done that would indicate he was a vicious bastard who abused his girlfriends or anything like that She re Knowledge is power

"What are you grinning at?" she said

"I’m sorry I had not in fact planned to make my entrance in this way I didn’t mean to alarm you But you should have seen your face when you opened the door It was priceless"

Silence To her surprise, Salander found his uninvited intrusion acceptable - well, at least not unpleasant

"You’ll have to think of it asaround in htened?"

"Not the least bit," Salander said

"Good I’m not here to make trouble for you"

"If you even try to hurt me I’ll have to do you an injury You’ll be sorry"

Blomkvist studied her She was barely four foot eleven and did not look as though she could put up much resistance if he were an assailant who had forced his way into her apartment But her eyes were expressionless and calm

"Well, that won’t be necessary," he said at last "I only need to talk to you If you want me to leave, all you have to do is say so It’s funny but oh, nothing"

"What?"

"This o I didn’t even know you existed Then I read your analysis of ht out the report "It was not entertaining reading"

He looked out of the kitchenfor a while "Could I buarette?" She slid the pack across the table

"You said before that we don’t know each other, and I said that yes, we do" He pointed at the report "I can’t coet your address and date of birth, stuff like that But you certainly know a great deal about s that onlyin your kitchen and eating bagels with you We have known each other half an hour, but I have the feeling that we’ve been friends for years Does that make sense to you?"

She nodded

"You have beautiful eyes," he said

"You have nice eyes yourself," she said

Long silence

"Why are you here?" she said

Kalle Blomkvist - she remembered his nickname and suppressed the impulse to say it out loud - suddenly looked serious He also looked very tired The self-confidence that he had shohen he first walked into her apart was over, or at least had been put aside She felt hi her closely

Salander felt that her composure was barely skin-deep and that she really wasn’t in complete control of her nerves This totally unlooked-for visit had shaken her in a way that she had never experienced in connection with her work Her bread and butter was spying on people In fact she had never thought of what she did for Arht of it more as a complicated pasti into the lives of other people and exposing the secrets they were trying to hide She had been doing it, in one for as she could re it today, not only when Arnave her a kick It was like a coame, except that it dealt with real live people And now one of her hobbies was sitting right here in her kitchen, feeding her bagels It was totally absurd