"Well, we do have Modig and Holmberg on the scene in Goteborg, and we've begun to cooperate--"
"We'll hold off on the press conference until we know more," Ekstrom repeated in a brittle tone. "What I want to know is: how certain are you that Niedermann really is involved in the murders in Stockholm?"
"My gut feeling? I'm 100 percent convinced. On the other hand, the case isn't exactly rock solid. We have no witnesses to the murders, and there is no satisfactory forensic evidence. Magge Lundin and Sonny Nieminen of the Svavelsjo MC are refusing to say anything--they're claiming they've never heard of Niedermann. But he's going to go to prison for the murder of a policeman."
"Precisely," said Ekstrom. "The killing of the officer is the main thing right now. But tell me this: is there anything at all to even suggest that Salander might be involved in some way in the murders? Could she and Niedermann have committed the murders together?"
"I very much doubt it, and if I were you I wouldn't voice that theory in public."
"So how is she involved?"
"This is an intricate story, as Mikael Blomkvist claimed from the very beginning. It revolves around this Zala . . . Alexander Zalachenko."
Ekstrom flinched at the mention of the name Blomkvist.
"Go on," he said.
"Zala is a Russian hit man--apparently without a grain of conscience--who defected in the seventies, and Lisbeth Salander was unlucky enough to have him as her father. He was sponsored or supported by a faction within Sapo that tidied up after any crimes he committed. A police officer attached to Sapo also saw to it that Salander was locked up in a children's psychiatric clinic. She was twelve and had threatened to blow Zalachenko's identity, his alias, his whole cover."
"This is a bit difficult to digest. It's hardly a story we can make public. If I understand the matter correctly, all this stuff about Zalachenko is highly classified."
"Nevertheless, it's the truth. I have documentation."
"May I see it?"
Bublanski pushed across the desk a folder containing a police report dated 1991. Ekstrom surreptitiously scanned the stamp, which indicated that the document was top secret, and the registration number, which he at once identified as belonging to the Security Police. He leafed rapidly through the hundred or so pages, reading paragraphs here and there. Eventually he put the folder aside.
"We have to try to tone this down, so that the situation doesn't get completely out of our control. So Salander was locked up in an asylum because she tried to kill her father, this Zalachenko. And now she has attacked him with an axe. By any interpretation that would be attempted murder. And she has to be charged with shooting Magge Lundin in Stallarholmen."
"You can arrest whomever you want, but I would tread carefully if I were you."
"There's going to be an enormous scandal if Sapo's involvement gets leaked."
Bublanski shrugged. His job was to investigate crimes, not to clean up after scandals.
"This bastard from Sapo, this Gunnar Bjorck. What do you know about his role?"
"He's one of the major players. He's on sick leave for a slipped disk and lives in Smadalaro at present."
"OK . . . we'll keep the lid on Sapo's involvement for the time being. The focus right now is to be on the murder of a police officer."
"It's going to be hard to keep this under wraps."
"What do you mean?"
"I sent Andersson to bring in Bjorck for a formal interrogation. That should be happening"--Bublanski looked at his watch--"yes, about now."
"You what?"
"I was rather hoping to have the pleasure of driving out to Smadalaro myself, but the events surrounding last night's killing took precedence."
"I didn't give anyone permission to arrest Bjorck."
"That's true. But it's not an arrest. I'm just bringing him in for questioning."
"Whichever, I don't like it."
Bublanski leaned forward, almost as if to confide in the other man.
"Richard, this is how it is. Salander has been subjected to a number of infringements of her rights, starting when she was a child. I do not mean for this to continue on my watch. You have the option to remove me as leader of the investigation . . . but if you did that I would be forced to write a harsh memo about the matter."
Ekstrom looked as if he had just swallowed something very sour.
Gunnar Bjorck, on sick leave from his job as assistant chief of the immigration division of the Security Police, opened the door of his summer house in Smadalaro and looked up at a powerfully built blond man with a crew cut who wore a black leather jacket.
"I'm looking for Gunnar Bjorck."
"That's me."
"Curt Andersson, County Criminal Police." The man held up his ID.
"Yes?"
"You are requested to accompany me to Kungsholmen to assist the police in their investigations into the case involving Lisbeth Salander."
"Uh . . . there must be some sort of misunderstanding."
"There's no misunderstanding," Andersson said.
"You don't understand. I'm a police officer myself. Save yourself making a big mistake: check it out with your superior officers."
"My superior is the one who wants to talk to you."
"I have to make a call and--"
"You can make your call from Kungsholmen."
Bjorck felt suddenly resigned. It's happened. I'm going to be arrested. That goddamn fucking Blomkvist. And fucking Salander.
"Am I being arrested?" he said.
"Not at the moment. But we can arrange for that if you like."
"No . . . no, of course I'll come with you. Naturally I'd want to assist my colleagues in the police force."
"All right, then," Andersson said, walking into the hallway to keep a close eye on Bjorck as he turned off the coffee machine and picked up his coat.
In the late morning it dawned on Blomkvist that his rental car was still at the Gosseberga farm, but he was so exhausted that he did not have the strength or the means to get out there to fetch it, much less drive safely for any distance. Erlander kindly arranged for a crime scene tech to take the car back on his way home.
"Think of it as compensation for the way you were treated last night."
Blomkvist thanked him and took a taxi to City Hotel on Lorensbergsgatan. He booked in for the night for 800 kronor and went straight to his room and undressed. He sat naked on the bed and took Salander's Palm Tungsten T3 from the inside pocket
of his jacket, weighing it in his hand. He was still amazed that it had not been confiscated when Paulsson frisked him, but Paulsson presumably thought it was Blomkvist's own, and he had never been formally taken into custody and searched. He thought for a moment and then slipped it into a compartment of his laptop case, where he had also put Salander's DVD marked "Bjurman," which Paulsson had also missed. He knew that technically he was withholding evidence, but these were the things that Salander would no doubt prefer not to have fall into the wrong hands.
He turned on his mobile and saw that the battery was low, so he plugged in the charger. He made a call to his sister, Advokat Giannini.
"Hi, Annika."
"What did you have to do with the policeman's murder last night?" she asked him at once.
He told her succinctly what had happened.
"So Salander is in intensive care."
"Correct, and we won't know the extent or severity of her injuries until she regains consciousness, but now she's really going to need a lawyer."
Giannini thought for a moment. "Do you think she'd want me for her lawyer?"
"Probably she wouldn't want any lawyer at all. She isn't the type to ask anyone for help."
"Mikael . . . I've said this before: it sounds like she might need a criminal lawyer. Let me look at the documentation you have."
"Talk to Erika and ask her for a copy."
As soon as Blomkvist hung up, he called Berger himself. She did not answer her mobile, so he tried her number at the Millennium offices. Henry Cortez answered.
"Erika's out somewhere," he said.
Blomkvist briefly explained what had happened and asked Cortez to pass the information to Erika.
"I will. What do you want us to do?" Cortez said.
"Nothing today," Blomkvist said. "I have to get some sleep. I'll be back in Stockholm tomorrow if nothing else comes up. Millennium will have an opportunity to present its version of the story in the next issue, but that's almost a month away."
He flipped his mobile shut and crawled into bed. He was asleep within thirty seconds.
Assistant County Police Chief Carina Spangberg tapped her pen against her glass of water and asked for quiet. Nine people were seated around the conference table in her office at police headquarters. Three women and six men: the head of the violent crimes division and his assistant head; three criminal inspectors, including Erlander; the Goteborg police public information officer; preliminary investigation leader Agneta Jervas from the prosecutor's office; and Inspectors Modig and Holmberg from the Stockholm police. They were included as a sign of goodwill and to demonstrate that Goteborg wished to cooperate with their colleagues from the capital. Possibly also to show them how a real police investigation should be run.