inthelastbuildingontheeastsideoftheroadlivedgerdavanger；widowofhenrik’sbrothergreger；andherson；alexander。

“gerdaissickly。shesuffersfrorheuatis。alexanderownsasallshareofthevangercorporation；butherunsanuberofhisownbusinesses；includingrestaurants。heusuallyspendsafewonthseachyearinbarbados；wherehehasinvestedaconsiderablesuinthetouristtrade。”

betweengerda’sandhenrik’shouseswasaplotoflandwithtwosaller；eptybuildings。theywereusedasguesthousesforfailyebers。ontheothersideofhenrik’shousestoodaprivatedwellingwhereanotherretiredeployeelivedwithhiswife；butitwaseptyinthewinterwhenthecouplerepairedtospain。

theyreturnedtothecrossroads；andwiththatthetourwasover。duskwasbeginningtofall。blokvisttooktheinitiative。

“henrik；i’lldowhati’vebeenhiredtodo。i’llwriteyourautobiography；andi’llhuouryoubyreadingalltheaterialaboutharrietascarefullyandcriticallyasican。ijustwantyoutorealisethati’notaprivatedetective。”

“iexpectnothing。”

“fine。”

“i’anightowl；”vangersaid。“soi’atyourdisposalanytieafterlunch。i’llarrangeforyoutohaveanofficeuphere；andyoucanakeuseofitwheneveryoulike。”

“no；thankyou。ihaveanofficeintheguesthouse；andthat’swherei’lldoywork。”

“asyouwish。”

“ifineedtotalktoyou；we’lldoitinyouroffice；buti’notgoingtostartthrowingquestionsatyoutonight。”

“iunderstand。”theoldanseeediprobablytiid。

“it’sgoingtotakeacoupleofweekstoreadthroughthepapers。we’llworkontwofronts。we’lleetforafewhourseachdaysothaticaninterviewyouandgatheraterialforyourbiography。whenistarthavingquestionsaboutharrietwhichineedtodiscusswithyou；i’llletyouknow。”

“thatsoundssensible。”

“i’goingtorequireafreehandtodoywork；andiwon’thaveanysetworkhours。”

“youdecideforyourselfhowtheworkshouldbedone。”

“isupposeyou’reawarethatihavetospendacoupleofonthsinprison。idon’tknowexactlywhen；buti’notgoingtoappeal。it’llprobablybesoetiethisyear。”

vangerfrowned。“that’sunfortunate。we’llhavetosolvethatproblewhenitesup。youcanalwaysrequestapostponeent。”

“ifit’sperittedandihaveenoughaterial；iightbeabletoworkonyourinprison。oneorething：i’stillpartownerofmillenniuandasofnowit’saagazineincrisis。ifsoethinghappensthatrequiresypresenceinstockhol；iwouldhavetodropwhati’doingandgothere。”

“ididn’ttakeyouonasaserf。iwantyoutodoathoroughjobontheassignenti’vegivenyou；but；ofcourse；youcansetyourownscheduleanddotheworkasyouseefit。ifyouneedtotakesoetieoff；feelfreetodoit；butififindoutthatyou’renotdoingthework；i’llconsiderthatabreachofcontract。”

vangerlookedovertowardsthebridge。hewasagauntan；andblokvistthoughtthathelookedatthatoentlikeaelancholyscarecrow。

“asfarasmillenniuisconcerned；weoughttohaveadiscussionaboutwhatkindofcrisisit’sinandwhethericanhelpinsoeway。”

“thebestassistanceyoucanofferistogiveewennerstr？’sheadonaplatterrighthereandnow。”

“ohno；i’notthinkingofdoingthat。”theoldangaveblokvistahardlook。“theonlyreasonyoutookthisjobwasbecauseiproisedtoexposewennerstr？。ifigiveyoutherationnow；youcould. comworkonthejobwheneveryoufeltlikeit。i’llgiveyoutherationayearfronow。”

“henrik；fiveeforsayingthis；butican’tbesurethatayearfronowyou’llbealive。”

vangersighedandcastathoughtfulgazeoverthefishingharbour。

“fairenough。i’lltalktofrodeandseeifwecanworksoethingout。butasfarasmillenniuisconcerned；iightbeabletohelpinanotherway。asiunderstandit；theadvertisershavebegu. comullout。”

“theadvertisersaretheiediateproble；butthecrisisgoesdeeperthanthat。it’saatteroftrust。itdoesn’tatterhowanyadvertiserswehaveifno…onewantstobuytheagazine。”

“irealisethat。i’stillontheboardofdirectorsofquitealargecorporation；albeitinapassiverole。wehav. comlaceadvertiseentssoewhere。let’sdiscusstheatteratsoestage。wouldyouliketohavedinner…”

“no。iwanttogetsettled；buysoegroceries；andtakealookaround。toorrowi’llgotohedestadandshopforwinterclothes。”

“goodidea。”

“i’dlikethefilesaboutharriettobeovedovertoyplace。”

“theyneedtobehandled…”

“withgreatcare—iunderstand。”

blokvistreturnedtotheguesthouse。histeethwerechatteringbythetiehegotindoors。thetheroeteroutsidethewindowsaid5°f；andhecouldn’treebereverfeelingsocoldasafterthatwalk；whichhadlastedbarelytwentyinutes。

hespentanhoursettlinghiselfintowhatwastobehishoefortheingyear。heputhisclothesinthewardrobeinthebedroo；histoiletrieswentinthebathroocabi。hissecondsuitcasewasactuallyatrunkonwheels。froithetooks；cdsandacdplayer；notes；asanyotaperecorder；amicrotekscanner；aportableink…jetprinter；aminoltadigitalcaera；andanuberofotheritesheregardedasessentialkitforayearinexile。

hearrangedthesandthecdsontheshelfintheofficealongsidetwobinderscontainingresearchaterialonhans…erikwennerstr？。theaterialwasuseless；buthecouldnotletitgo。soehowhehadtoturnthosetwofoldersintobuildingblocksforhiscontinuingcareer。