The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1)

The Lea murder aroused a great deal of attention as a summer serial story in the newspaper, but no killer had ever been identified. There was no Lea on Harriet Vanger's list. Nor did the manner of her death fit with any of Harriet's Bible quotes.

On the other hand, there was such a bizarre coincidence that Salander's antennae instantly buzzed. About ten yards from where Lea's body was found lay a flowerpot with a pigeon inside. Someone had tied a string round the pigeon's neck and pulled it through the hole in the bottom of the pot. Then the pot was put on a little fire that had been laid between two bricks. There was no certainty that this cruelty had any connection with the Lea murder. It could have been a child playing a horrible game, but the press dubbed the murder the Pigeon Murder.

Salander was no Bible reader - she did not even own one - but that evening she went over to Hogalid Church and with some difficulty she managed to borrow a Bible. She sat on a park bench outside the church and read Leviticus. When she reached Chapter 12, verse 8, her eyebrows went up. Chapter 12 dealt with the purification of women after childbirth.

And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

Lea could very well have been included in Harriet's date book as: Lea - 31208.

Salander thought that no research she had ever done before had contained even a fraction of the scope of this assignment.

***

Mildred Brannlund, remarried and now Mildred Berggren, opened the door when Blomkvist knocked around 10:00 on Sunday morning. The woman was much older, of course, and had by now filled out a good deal, but he recognised her at once.

"Hi, my name is Mikael Blomkvist. You must be Mildred Berggren."

"That's right."

"I'm sorry for knocking on your door like this, but I've been trying to find you, and it's rather complicated to explain." He smiled at her. "I wonder if I could come in and take up a small amount of your time."

Mildred's husband and a son who was about thirty-five were home, and without much hesitation she invited Blomkvist to come and sit in their kitchen. He shook hands with each of them. He had drunk more coffee during the past twenty-four hours than at any time in his life, but by now he had learned that in Norrland it was rude to say no. When the coffee cups were on the table, Mildred sat down and asked with some curiosity how she could help him. It was obvious that he did not easily understand her Norsjo dialect, so she switched to standard Swedish.

Blomkvist took a deep breath. "This is a long and peculiar story," he said. "In September 1966 you were in Hedestad with your then husband, Gunnar Brannlund."

She looked surprised. He waited for her to nod before he laid the photograph from Jarnvagsgatan on the table in front of her.

"When was this picture taken? Do you remember the occasion?"

"Oh, my goodness," Mildred Berggren said. "That was a lifetime ago."

Her present husband and son came to stand next to her to look at the picture.

"We were on our honeymoon. We had driven down to Stockholm and Sigtuna and were on our way home and happened to stop somewhere. Was it in Hedestad, you said?"

"Yes, Hedestad. This photograph was taken at about 1:00 in the afternoon. I've been trying to find you for some time now, and it hasn't been a simple task."

"You see an old photograph of me and then actually track me down. I can't imagine how you did it."

Blomkvist put the photograph from the car park on the table.

"I was able to find you thanks to this picture, which was taken a little later in the day." He explained how, via the Norsjo Carpentry Shop, he had found Burman, who in turn had led him to Henning Forsman in Norsjovallen.

"You must have a good reason for this long search."

"I do. This girl standing close to you in this photograph is called Harriet. That day she disappeared, and she was never seen or heard of again. The general assumption is that she fell prey to a murderer. Can I show you some more photographs?"

He took out his iBook and explained the circumstances while the computer booted up. Then he played her the series of images showing how Harriet's facial expression changed.

"It was when I went through these old images that I found you, standing with a camera right behind Harriet, and you seem to be taking a picture in the direction of whatever it is she's looking at, whatever caused her to react in that way. I know that this is a really long shot, but the reason I've been looking for you is to ask you if by any miracle you still have the pictures from that day."

He was prepared for Mildred Berggren to dismiss the idea and tell him that the photographs had long since vanished. Instead she looked at him with her clear blue eyes and said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, that of course she still had her old honeymoon pictures.

She went to another room and came back after several minutes with a box in which she had stored a quantity of pictures in various albums. It took a while to find the honeymoon ones. She had taken three photographs in Hedestad. One was blurry and showed the main street. Another showed her husband at the time. The third showed the clowns in the parade.

Blomkvist eagerly leaned forward. He could see a figure on the other side of the street behind a clown. But the photograph told him absolutely nothing.

CHAPTER 20

Tuesday, July 1 - Wednesday, July 2

The first thing Blomkvist did the morning he returned to Hedestad was to go to Frode's house to ask about Vanger's condition. He learned to his delight that the old man had improved quite a bit during the past week. He was weak still, and fragile, but now he could sit up in bed. His condition was no longer regarded as critical.

"Thank God," he said. "I realised that I actually like him."

Frode said: "I know that. And Henrik likes you too. How was Norrland?"

"Successful yet unsatisfying. I'll explain a little later. Right now I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"What realistically will happen to your interest in Millennium if Henrik dies?"

"Nothing at all. Martin will take his place on the board."

"Is there any risk, hypothetically speaking, that Martin might create problems for Millennium if I don't put a stop to the investigation of Harriet's disappearance?"

Frode gave him a sharp look.

"What's happened?"

"Nothing, actually." Mikael told him about the conversation he had had with Martin Vanger on Midsummer Eve. "When I was in Norsjo Erika told me that Martin had called her and said that he thought I was very much needed back at the office."

"I understand. My guess is that Cecilia was after him. But I don't think that Martin would put pressure on you like that on his own. He's much too savvy. And remember, I'm also on the board of the little subsidiary we formed when we bought into Millennium."

"But what if a ticklish situation came up - how would you act then?"

"Contracts exist to be honoured. I work for Henrik. Henrik and I have been friends for forty-five years, and we are in complete agreement in such matters. If Henrik should die it is in point of fact I - not Martin - who would inherit Henrik's share in the subsidiary. We have a contract in which we have undertaken to back Millennium for three years. Should Martin wish to start any mischief - which I don't believe he will - then theoretically he could put the brakes on a small number of new advertisers."

"The lifeblood of Millennium's existence."

"Yes, but look at it this way - worrying about such trivia is a waste of time. Martin is presently fighting for his industrial survival and working fourteen hours a day. He doesn't have time for anything else."

"May I ask - I know it's none of my business - what is the general condition of the corporation?"

Frode looked grave.

"We have problems."

"Yes, even a common financial reporter like myself can see that. I mean, how serious is it?"

"Off the record?"

"Between us."

"We've lost two large orders in the electronics industry in the past few weeks and are about to be ejected from the Russian market. In September we're going to have to lay off 1,600 employees in orebro and Trollhattan. Not much of a reward to give to people who've worked for the company for many years. Each time we shut down a factory, confidence in the company is further undermined."

"Martin is under pressure."

"He's pulling the load of an ox and walking on eggshells."

Blomkvist went back to his cottage and called Berger. She was not at the office, so he spoke to Malm.

"Here's the deal: Erika called when I was in Norsjo. Martin Vanger has been after her and has, how shall I put it, encouraged her to propose that I start to take on editorial responsibility."

"I think you should too," Malm said.

"I know that. But the thing is, I have a contract with Henrik Vanger that I can't break, and Martin is acting on behalf of someone up here who wants me to stop what I am doing and leave town. So his proposal amounts to an attempt to get rid of me."

"I see."

"Say hi to Erika and tell her I'll come back to Stockholm when I'm finished here. Not before."

"I understand. You're stark raving mad, of course, but I'll give her the message."

"Christer. Something is going on up here, and I have no intention of backing out."

Blomkvist knocked on Martin Vanger's door. Eva Hassel opened it and greeted him warmly.

"Hi. Is Martin home?"

As if in reply to the question, Martin Vanger came walking out with a briefcase in his hand. He kissed Eva on the cheek and said hello to Mikael.

"I'm on my way to the office. Do you want to talk to me?"

"We can do it later if you're in a hurry."

"Let's hear it."

"I won't be going back to Millennium's editorial board before I'm finished with the assignment that Henrik gave me. I'm informing you of this now so that you won't count on me being on the board before New Year's."

Martin Vanger teetered back and forth for a bit.

"I see. You think I want to get rid of you." He paused. "Mikael, we'll have to talk about this later. I don't really have time to devote to my hobby on Millennium's board, and I wish I'd never agreed to Henrik's proposal. But believe me - I'm going to do my best to make sure that Millennium survives."

"I've never had any doubt about that," Blomkvist said.

"If we make an appointment for sometime next week we can go over the finances and I can give you my views on the matter. But my basic attitude is that Millennium cannot actually afford to have one of its key people sitting up here on Hedeby Island twiddling his thumbs. I like the magazine and I think we can make it stronger together, but you're crucial to that task. I've wound up in a conflict of loyalties here. Either I follow Henrik's wishes or carry out my job on Millennium's board."

Blomkvist changed into his tracksuit and went for a run out to the Fortress and down to Gottfried's cabin before he headed home at a slower pace along the water. Frode was sitting at the garden table. He waited patiently as Mikael drank a bottle of water and towelled the sweat from his face.

"That doesn't look so healthy in this heat."

"Oh, come on," Blomkvist said.

"I was wrong. Cecilia isn't the main person who's after Martin. It's Isabella. She's busy mobilising the Vanger clan to tar and feather you and possibly burn you at the stake too. She's being backed up by Birger."

"Isabella?"

"She's a malicious, petty woman who doesn't like other people in general. Right now it seems that she detests you in particular. She's spreading stories that you're a swindler who duped Henrik into hiring you, and that you got him so worked up that he had a heart attack."

"I hope no-one believes that?"

"There's always someone willing to believe malicious rumours."

"I'm trying to work out what happened to her daughter - and she hates me. If Harriet were my daughter, I would have reacted a bit differently."

At 2:00 in the afternoon, his mobile rang.

"Hello, my name is Conny Torsson and I work at the Hedestad Courier. Do you have time to answer a few questions? We got a tip that you're living here in Hedeby."

"Well, Herr Torsson, your tip machine is a little slow. I've been living here since the first of the year."

"I didn't know that. What are you doing in Hedestad?"

"Writing. And taking a sort of sabbatical."

"What are you working on?"

"You'll find out when I publish it."

"You were just released from prison..."

"Yes?"

"Do you have a view on journalists who falsify material?"

"Journalists who falsify material are idiots."

"So in your opinion you're an idiot?"

"Why should I think that? I've never falsified material."

"But you were convicted of libel."

"So?"

Torsson hesitated long enough that Blomkvist had to give him a push.

"I was convicted of libel, not of falsifying material."

"But you published the material."

"If you're calling to discuss the judgement against me, I have no comment."

"I'd like to come out and do an interview with you."

"I have nothing to say to you on this topic."