Ricker saw Molly Borden standing beside a small glass table in a spacious but dim-lit room. The walls were mirrored and a dull hidden light cast vague shadows upon heavy chairs and a sofa, gleamed weirdly upon chrome ash-trays, a carved bottle and glasses. The highlighted silhouette of the woman commanded the scene. She stood carelessly, one crimson-tipped hand resting on the table, a cocktail glass glinting in the other. She had changed from her traveling suit, wore a shimmering gown that bathed her lithe body in a sheen of liquid silver. Had it been under any ordinary circumstances, Ricker would have whistled at the sight of her.

"Your stare tickles, Mr. Ricker," she said. "Won't you come in? Will you have scotch or—"

"He's a telenewsman," said a deep voice from a shadowed chair to the left. "He'll have scotch. And please turn on the light, Vanger. We must make our guest feel at home."

A sudden light glowed over the room. Ricker gazed at the person who had spoken.

He saw a large fat man lounging deep in a cushioned armchair. He had three folds of pale flesh for a chin below his thick lips, his eyes were puffed with the whites startlingly large and his skin was white, an unhealthy white—like a great white worm.

Ricker inhaled quickly. His jaw dropped.

It was Senator Trexel sitting there.

Ricker was struck dumb. He clutched the back of a chair as his mind swirled.

"So Dorothy Adison was right!" He heard himself speak the words as if somebody else had said them.

"Alibis are easily purchased." The fat man's heavy lips curled up at the corners and his hog-like eyes became slitted puffs of flesh. "But do sit down," he smiled. "We have much to talk about."

Ricker found his way around the chair, sank down slowly with his eyes upon the man. Dorothy Adison was right! The phrase roared in his mind. Trexel did have something to do with the murder. Had he hired Molly Borden to do it? Was he a member of this Neptune gang? Was he the leader?

"What will you have to drink?"

Ricker looked at the man as he would a Black 

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