The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium 3)

"Oh yes. Vitavara Inc. subcontracts the work to an outfit called Fong Soo Industries. They're on the UN list of companies that use child labour--at least they were in an investigation from 2001. But the majority of the workers are convicts."

Eriksson burst out laughing. "This is great. This is really great. I'm sure you're going to be a journalist when you grow up. How fast can you have the story ready?"

"Two weeks. I have a lot of international trade stuff to check out. And then we need a bad guy for the story, so I'm going to see who owns Vitavara Inc."

"Then we could run it in the June issue?"

"No problem."

Inspector Bublanski listened to Prosecutor Ekstrom without expression. The meeting had lasted forty minutes, and Bublanski was feeling an intense desire to reach out and grab the copy of The Law of the Swedish Kingdom that lay on the edge of Ekstrom's desk and ram it down the prosecutor's throat. He wondered what would happen if he acted on his impulse. There would certainly be headlines in the evening papers, and it would probably result in an assault charge. He pushed the thought away. The whole point of the socialized human being was to not give in to that sort of impulse, regardless of how belligerently an opponent might behave. Of course it was usually after somebody had given in to such impulses that Inspector Bublanski was called in.

"I take it we're in agreement," Ekstrom said.

"No, we are not in agreement," Bublanski said, getting to his feet. "But you're the leader of the preliminary investigation."

He muttered to himself as he turned down the hall to his office, summoning Andersson and Modig as he went. They were the only colleagues available to him that afternoon, as Holmberg had regrettably opted to take a two-week vacation.

"My office," Bublanski said. "Bring some coffee."

After they settled in, Bublanski looked at the notes from his meeting with Ekstrom.

"As the situation stands, our preliminary investigation leader has dropped all charges against Lisbeth Salander relating to the murders for which she was being sought. She is no longer part of the preliminary investigation as far as we're concerned."

"That can be considered a step forward, at any rate," Modig said.

Andersson, as usual, said nothing.

"I'm not so sure about that," Bublanski said. "Salander is still suspected in connection with the events at Stallarholmen and Gosseberga. But we're no longer involved with those investigations. We have to concentrate on finding Niedermann and working on the graves in the woods at Nykvarn. On the other hand, it's now clear that Ekstrom is going to bring charges against Salander. The case has been transferred to Stockholm, and an entirely new investigation has been set up for the purpose."

"Oh, really?" Modig said.

"And who do you think is going to investigate Salander?" Bublanski said.

"I'm fearing the worst."

"Hans Faste is back on duty, and he's going to assist Ekstrom."

"That's insane. Faste is grossly unsuited to investigate anything at all to do with Salander."

"I know that. But Ekstrom has a good argument. Faste has been out on sick leave, and this would be the perfect, simple case for him to focus on."

Silence.

"The long and the short of it is that we're to hand over all our material on Salander to him this afternoon."

"And this story about Gunnar Bjorck and Sapo and the 1991 report. . . ."

" . . . is going to be handled by Faste and Ekstrom."

"I don't like this," Modig said.

"Nor do I. But Ekstrom's the boss, and he has backing from higher up in the bureaucracy. In other words, our job is still to find the killer. Curt, what's the situation?"

Andersson shook his head. "Niedermann seems to have been swallowed up by the earth. I have to admit that in all my years on the force I've never seen anything like it. We haven't had any tip-offs, and we don't have a single informer who knows him or has any idea where he might be."

"That sounds fishy," Modig said. "But he's being sought for the police murder in Gosseberga, for aggravated assault on another officer, for the attempted murder of Salander, and for the aggravated kidnapping and assault of the dental hygienist Anita Kaspersson, as well as for the murders of Svensson and Johansson. In every instance there's good forensic evidence."

"That helps a bit, at least. How's it going with the case of Svavelsjo MC's treasurer?"

"Viktor Goransson--and his girlfriend, Lena Nygren. We have forensic evidence that ties Niedermann to the scene. Fingerprints and DNA from Goransson's body. Niedermann must have bloodied his knuckles pretty badly during the beating."

"Anything new on Svavelsjo MC?"

"Nieminen has taken over as club president while Lundin remains in custody, awaiting trial for the kidnapping of Miriam Wu. There's a whisper that Nieminen has offered a big reward to anyone who can provide information on Niedermann's whereabouts."

"If the entire underworld is looking for him, it's even stranger that he hasn't been found. What about Goransson's car?"

"Since we found Kaspersson's car at Goransson's place, we're sure that Niedermann switched vehicles. But we have no trace of the car he took."

"So we have to ask ourselves, one, is Niedermann still hiding out somewhere in Sweden? Two, if so, with whom? Three, is he out of the country? What do we think?"

"We have nothing to indicate that he's left the country, but really that seems his most logical course."

"Where did he ditch the car?"

Modig and Andersson shook their heads. Nine times out of ten, police work was uncomplicated when it came to looking for one specific individual. It was about initiating a logical sequence of inquiries. Who were his friends? Who had he been in prison with? Where did his girlfriend live? Who did he drink with? In what area was his mobile last used? Where was his vehicle? At the end of that sequence the fugitive would generally be found.

The problem with Niedermann was that he had no friends, no girlfriend, and no listed mobile, and he had never been in prison.

The inquiries had concentrated on finding Goransson's car, which Niedermann was presumed to be using. They had expected the car to turn up in a matter of days, probably in some parking lot in Stockholm. But there was still no sign of it.

"If he's out of the country, where would he be?"

"He's a German citizen, so the ob

vious thing would be for him to head for Germany."

"He seems not to have had any contact with his old friends in Hamburg."

Andersson waved his hand. "If his plan was to go to Germany, why would he drive to Stockholm? Shouldn't he have made for Malmo and the bridge to Copenhagen, or for one of the ferries?"

"I know. And Inspector Erlander in Goteborg has been focusing his search in that direction from day one. The Danish police have been informed about Goransson's car, and we know for sure that he didn't take any of the ferries."

"But he did drive to Stockholm and to Svavelsjo, and there he murdered the club's treasurer and--we can assume--made off with an unspecified sum of money. What would his next step be?"

"He has to get out of Sweden," Bublanski said. "The most direct option would be to take one of the ferries across the Baltic. Goransson and his girlfriend were murdered late on the night of April 9. Niedermann could have taken the ferry the next morning. We got the alarm roughly sixteen hours after they died, and we've had an APB out on the car ever since."

"If he took the morning ferry, then Goransson's car would be parked at one of the ports," Modig said.

"Perhaps we haven't found the car because Niedermann drove out of the country to the north via Haparanda? It's a big detour around the Gulf of Bothnia, but in sixteen hours he could have been in Finland."

"Sure, but soon after he would have had to abandon the car in Finland, and it should have been found by now."

They sat in silence. Finally Bublanski got up and stood at the window.

"Could he have found a hiding place where he's just lying low, a summer cabin or--"

"I don't think it would be a summer cabin. This time of year every cabin owner is out checking their property."

"And he wouldn't try anywhere connected to Svavelsjo MC. They're the last people he'd want to run into."

"The entire underworld can be ruled out as well. . . . Any girlfriend we don't know about?"

They could speculate, but they had no facts.

When Andersson left for the day, Modig went back to Bublanski's office and knocked on the door jamb. He waved her in.

"Do you have a couple of minutes?" she said.

"What's up?"

"Salander. I don't like this business with Ekstrom and Faste and a new trial. You've read Bjorck's report. I've read Bjorck's report. Salander was unlawfully committed in 1991 and Ekstrom knows it. What the hell is going on?"