Stieg Larsson - The Girl who played with Fire

He closed the document and scratched his head. Solving the murders was going to be a considerably more difficult task than he had imagined. Nor could he avoid being assailed by doubt. Nothing told him unequivocally that Salander was innocent. All he had to go on was his instinct.

He knew that she was not short of funds. She had exploited her skills as a hacker to steal a sum of several billion kronor, but she didn’t know that he knew this. Apart from when he had been forced to explain her computer talents to Berger, he had never betrayed her secrets to any outsider.

He didn’t want to believe that Salander was guilty of the murders. He would never be able to repay his debt to her. She had not only saved his life, she had also salvaged his career and possibly Millennium magazine itself by delivering Hans-Erik Wennerström’s head to them on a platter.

And he felt a great loyalty to her. Whether she was guilty or not, he was going to do everything he could to help her when she eventually was caught.

But there was so much that he didn’t know about her. The psychiatric assessments, the fact that she had been committed to one of the country’s most highly regarded institutions, and that she had even been declared incompetent, all tended to confirm that something was wrong with her. The chief of staff at St.Stefan’s Psychiatric Clinic in Uppsala, Dr. Peter Teleborian, had been widely quoted in the press. As was appropriate, he had not made statements specifically about Salander but had commented on the national collapse of mental health care. Teleborian was renowned and respected not merely in Sweden but internationally as well. He had been thoroughly convincing and had managed to convey his sympathy for the murder victims and their families while making it known that he was most anxious about Salander’s well-being.

Blomkvist wondered whether he ought to get in touch with Dr. Teleborian and whether he might be able to help in some way. But he refrained. The doctor would have plenty of time to help Salander once she was caught.

Finally he went to the kitchenette and poured coffee into a cup with the logo of the Moderate Unity Party and went in to see Berger.

“I have a long list of johns and pimps I have to interview,” he said.

She looked at him with concern.

“It’ll probably take a week or two to check off everyone on the list. They’re dotted about from Strängnäs to Norrköping. I’ll need a car.”

She opened her handbag and took out the keys to her BMW.

“Is that really all right?”

“Of course it’s all right. I drive to work as rarely as I drive out to Saltsjöbaden. And if need be I can take Greger’s car.”

“Thanks.”

“There’s one condition, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Some of these guys are serious thugs. If you’re going out to accuse pimps of murdering Dag and Mia, I want you to take this with you and always keep it in the pocket of your jacket.”

She put a canister of Mace on the desk.

“Where’d you get that?”

“I bought it in the States last year. I’ll be damned if I’m going to run around alone at night without some sort of weapon.”

“There’ll be hell to pay if I get caught in possession of an illegal weapon.”

“Better that than me having to write your obituary, Mikael… I’m not sure if you know this, but sometimes I really worry about you.”

“I see.”

“You take risks and you’re so pigheaded that you can never back down from a stupid decision.”

Blomkvist smiled and put the Mace on Erika’s desk.

“Thanks for the concern. But I don’t need it.”

“Micke, I insist.”

“That’s fine. But I’ve already taken precautions.”

He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a canister. It was the Mace he had taken out of Salander’s shoulder bag and had carried with him ever since.

Bublanski knocked on the open door of Modig’s office and then sat down on the visitor’s chair by her desk.

“Dag Svensson’s computer,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking about that too,” she said. “I did a timeline of Svensson and Johansson’s last day. There are still a few gaps, but Svensson never went to Millennium’s offices that day. On the other hand he did go into the centre of town, and at around 4:00 in the afternoon he ran into an old school friend. It was a chance meeting at a café on Drottninggatan. The friend says that Svensson definitely had his computer. He saw it and even made a comment about it.”

“And by 11:00 that night – by the time the police arrived at his apartment – the computer was gone.”

“Correct.”

“What should we deduce from that?”

“He could have stopped somewhere else and for some reason left or forgotten his computer.”

“How likely is that?”

“Not very likely. But he could have dropped it off for repair. Then there’s the possibility that there was some other place he worked that we don’t know about. For example, he once rented a desk at a freelancers’ office near St.Eriksplan. Then, of course, there’s the possibility that the killer took the computer with him.”

“According to Armansky, Salander is very good with computers.”

“Exactly,” Modig said, nodding.

“Hmm. Blomkvist’s theory is that Svensson and Johansson were murdered because of the research Svensson was doing. Which would all be on his computer.”

“We’re lagging a little behind. Three murder victims create so many loose ends that we can’t really keep up, but we actually haven’t done a proper search of Svensson’s workplace at Millennium yet.”

“I talked with Erika Berger this morning. She says they’re surprised that we haven’t been over to take a look at what he left there.”

“We’ve been focusing too much on the hunt for Salander, and so far we don’t have a clue about the motive. Could you…?”

“I’ve made a rendezvous with Berger at Millennium for tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

On Thursday Blomkvist was at his desk talking to Eriksson when a telephone rang somewhere else in the offices. Through the doorway he caught a glimpse of Cortez on his way to answer it. Then he registered somewhere in the back of his mind that it was the phone on Svensson’s desk. He jumped to his feet.

“Stop – don’t touch that phone!” he yelled.

Cortez had his hand on the receiver. Blomkvist hurried across the room. What the hell was the name of that phony company Svensson made up?

“Indigo Market Research, this is Mikael. May I help you?”

“Uh… hello, my name is Gunnar Björck. I got a letter saying I’ve won a mobile phone.”

“Congratulations,” Blomkvist said. “It’s a Sony Ericsson, the latest model.”

“And it’s free?”

“That’s right, it’s free. To receive the gift you only have to be interviewed. We do market research studies and in-depth analyses for various companies. It’ll take about an hour to answer the questions. After that your name will be entered in another drawing and you’ll have the chance to win 100,000 kronor.”

“I understand. Can we do it over the phone?”

“Unfortunately not. The questionnaire involves looking at company logos and identifying them. We will also be asking about what type of advertising images you like and we show you various alternatives. We have to send out one of our employees.”

“I see… and how did I happen to be selected?”

“We do this type of study several times a year. Right now we’re focusing on a number of successful men in your age group. We’ve drawn social security numbers at random within that demographic.”

Björck finally agreed to a meeting. He told Blomkvist that he was on sick leave and was convalescing at a summer cabin up in Smådalarö. He gave directions on how to get there. They agreed to meet on Friday morning.