“youdon’thavetobeataroundthebushwithe。tellewhatyouwantetodo；sothaticandecidewhetheriwanttodoitornot。”

“soifican’tconvinceyouinhalfanhourtheniwouldn’tbeabletodoitinaontheither—that’swhatyouthink。”

“soethingalongthatline。”

“butystoryislongandplicated。”

“shortenandsiplifyit。that’swhatwedoinjournalis。twenty…nineinutes。”

vangerheldupahand。“enough。igetyourpoint。butit’snevergoodpsychologytoexaggerate。ineedsoebodywhocandoresearchandthinkcritically；butwhoalsohasintegrity。ithinkyouhaveit；andthat’snotflattery。agoodjournalistough. comossessthesequalities；andireadyourtheknightsteplarwithgreatinterest。it’struethatipickedyoubecauseiknewyourfatherandbecauseiknohoyouare。ifiunderstoodtheattercorrectly；youleftyouragazineasaresultofthewennerstr？affair。whicheansthatyouhavenojobattheoent；andprobablyyou’reinatightfinancialspot。”

“soyouightbeabletoexploitypredicaent；isthatit？”

“perhaps。butmikael—ifiaycallyoumikael？—iwon’tlietoyou。i’toooldforthat。ifyoudon’tlikewhatisay；youcantelletojupinthelake。theni’llhavetofindsoeoneelsetoworkwithe。”

“ok；tellewhatthisjobinvolves。”

“howuchdoyouknowaboutthevangerfaily？”

“well；onlywhatianagedtoreadonthesincefrodecalledeonmonday。inyourdaythevangercorporationwasoneoftheostiportantindustrialfirsinsweden；todayit’ssoewhatdiinished。martinvangerrunsit。iknowquiteabitore；butwhatareyougettingat？”

“martinis…he’sagoodanbutbasicallyhe’safair…weathersailor。he’sunsuitedtobetheanagingdirectorofapanyincrisis。hewantstooderniseandspecialise—whichisgoodthinking—buthecan’tpushthroughhisideasandhisfinancialanageentisweaktoo。twenty…fiveyearsagothevangerconcernwasaseriouspetitortothewallenberggroup。wehadfortythousandeployeesinsweden。todayanyofthesejobsareinkoreaorbrazil。wearedowntoabouttenthousandeployeesandinayearortwo—ifmartindoesn’tgetsoewindintohissails—we’llhavefivethousand；priarilyinsallanufacturingindustries；andthevangerpanieswillbeconsignedtothescrapheapofhistory。”

blokvistnodded。hehadetoroughlythisconclusiononthebasisofthepieceshehaddownloaded。

“thevangerpaniesarestillaongthefewfaily…heldfirsinthecountry。thirtyfailyebersareinorityshareholders。thishasalwaysbeenthestrengthofthecorporation；butalsoourgreatestweakness。”vangerpausedandthensaidinatoneofountingurgency；“mikael；youcanaskquestionslater；butiwantyoutotakeeatywordwhenisaythatidetestostoftheebersofyfaily。theyarefortheostpartthieves；isers；bullies；andinpetents。iranthepanyforthirty…fiveyears—alostallthetieintheidstofrelentlessbickering。theywereyworsteneies；farworsethanpetingpaniesorthegovernent。

“isaidthatiwantedtoissionyoutodotwothings。first；iwantyoutowriteahistoryorbiographyofthevangerfaily。forsiplicity’ssake；wecancallityautobiography。iwillputyjournalsandarchivesatyourdisposal。youwillhaveaesstoyinnerostthoughtsandyoucanpublishallthedirtyoudigup。ithinkthisstorywillakeshakespeare’stragediesreadlikelightfailyentertainent。”

“why？”

“whydoiwan. comublishascandaloushistoryofthevangerfaily？orwhydoiaskyoutowriteit？”

“both；isuppose。”

“totellyouthetruth；idon’tcarewhethertheiseverpublished。butidothinkthatthestoryshouldbewritten；ifonlyinasinglecopythatyoudeliverdirectlytotheroyallibrary。iwantthisstorytobethereforposteritywhenidie。myotiveisthesiplestiaginable：revenge。”

“whatdoyouwanttorevenge？”

“i’proudthatynaeisabywordforaanwhokeepshiswordandreebershisproises。i’veneverplayedpoliticalgaes。i’veneverhadproblesnegotiatingwithtradeunions。evenprieministererlanderhadrespectforeinhisday。foreitwasaatterofethics；iwasresponsibleforthelivelihoodsofthousandsofpeople；andicaredaboutyeployees。oddlyenough；martinhasthesaeattitude；eventhoughhe’saverydifferentperson。hetoohastriedtodotherightthing。sadlymartinandiarerareexceptionsinourfaily。thereareanyreasonswhythevangercorporationisontheropestoday；butoneofthekeyonesistheshort…terisandgreedofyrelatives。ifyouaepttheassignent；i’llexplainhowyfailywentabouttorpedoingthefir。”

“iwon’tlietoyoueither；”blokvistsaid。“researchingandwritingalikethiswouldtakeonths。idon’thavetheotivationortheenergytodoit。”

“ibelieveicantalkyouintoit。”

“idoubtit。butyousaidthereweretwothings。theisthepretext。whatistherealobjective？”

vangerstoodup；laboriouslyagain；andtookthephotographofharrietvangerfrothedesk。hesetitdowninfrontofblokvist。

“whileyouwritethebiographyiwantyoutoscrutinisethefailywiththeeyesofajournalist。itwillalsogiveyouanalibiforpokingaroundinthefailyhistory。whatiwantisforyoutosolveaystery。that’syourrealassignent。”

“whatystery？”

“harrietwasthegranddaughterofybrotherrichard。therewerefivebrothers。richardwastheeldest；bornin1907。iwastheyoungest；bornin1920。idon’tunderstandhowgodcouldcreatethisflockofchildrenwho…”forseveralsecondsvangerlostthethread；iersedinhisthoughts。thenhewentonwithnewdecisiveness。“letetellyouaboutybrotherrichard。thinkofthisasasallsaplefrothefailychronicleiwantyoutowrite。”

hepouredorecoffeeforhiself。

“in1924；nowseventeen；richardwasafanaticalnationalistandantiseite。hejoinedtheswedishnationalsocialistfreedoleague；oneofthefirstnazigroupsinsweden。isn’titfascinatingthatnazisalwaysanagetoadoptthewordfreedo？”

vangerpulledoutanotheralbuandleafedthroughituntilhefoundthepagehewaslookingfor。“here’srichardwiththeveterinarianbirgerfurug？rd；soontobeetheleaderoftheso…calledfurug？rdoveent；thebignazioveentoftheearlythirties。butricharddidnotstaywithhi。hejoined；afewyearslater；theswedishfascistbattleanisation；thesfbo；andtherehegottoknowperengdahlandotherswhowouldbethedisgraceofthenation。”

heturnedthepageinthealbu：richardvangerinunifor。

“heenlisted—againstourfather’swishes—andduringthethirtiesheadehiswaythroughostofthenazigroupsinthecountry。anysickconspiratorialassociationthatexisted；youcanbesurehisnaewasontheirroster。in1933thelindholoveentwasfored；thatis；thenationalsocialistworkers’party。hoelldoyouknowthehistoryofswedishnazis？”

“i’nohistorian；buti’vereadafews。”

“in1939thesecondworldwarbegan；andin1940thewinterwarinfinland。alargenuberofthelindholoveentjoinedasfinlandvolunteers。richardwasoneoftheandbythenacaptainintheswedishary。hewaskilledinfebruary1940—justbeforethepeacetreatywiththesovietunion—andtherebybecaeaartyrinthenazioveentandhadabattlegroupnaedafterhi。evennowahandfulofidiotsgatherataceeteryinstockholontheanniversaryofhisdeathtohonourhi。”

“iunderstand。”

“in1926；whenhewasnieen；hewasgoingoutwithawoancalledmargareta；thedaughterofateacherinfalun。theyetinsoepoliticalcontextandhadarelationshipwhichresultedinason；gottfried；whowasbornin1927。thecouplearriedwhentheboywasborn。duringthefirsthalfofthethirties；ybrothersenthiswifeandchildheretohedestadwhilehewasstationedwithhisregienting？vle。inhisfreetiehetravelledaroundanddidproselytisingfornazis。in1936hehadahugefightwithyfatherwhichresultedinyfathercuttinghioff。afterthatrichardhadtoakehisownliving。heovedwithhisfailytostockholandlivedinrelativepoverty。”

“hehadnooneyofhisown？”

“theinheritancehehadinthefirwastiedup。hecouldn’tselloutsidethefaily。worsethantheirstraitenedcircustances；richardwasabrutaldoestic。hebeathiswifeandabusedhisson。gottfriedgrewupcowedandbullied。hewasthirteenwhenrichardwaskilled。isuspectitwasthehappiestdayofhislifeuptothatpoint。myfathertookpityonthewidowandchildandbroughttheheretohedestad；wherehefoundanapartentformargaretaandsawtoitthatshehadadecentlife。

“ifrichardpersonifiedthefaily’sdark；fanaticalside；gottfriedebodiedtheindolentone。whenhereachedtheageofeighteenidecidedtotakehiunderywing—hewasydeadbrother’sson；afterall—andyouhavetoreeberthattheagedifferencebetweengottfriedandewasnotsogreat。iwasonlysevenyearsolder；butbytheniwasonthefir’sboard；anditwasclearthatiwastheonewhowouldtakeoverfroyfather；whilegottfriedwasoreorlessregardedasanoutsider。”

vangerthoughtforaoent。

“myfatherdidn’treallyknowhowtodealwithhisgrandson；soiwastheonewhogavehiajobinthepany。thiswasafterthewar。hedidtrytodoareasonablejob；buthewaslazy。hewasacharerandgood…tiecharlie；hehadawaywithwoen；andtherewereperiodswhenhedranktoouch。itisn’teasytodescribeyfeelingsforhi…hewasn’tagood…