Stieg Larsson - The Girl who played with Fire

Modig was infuriated by Faste, but she did not allow her expression to reveal what she thought of him. The interview with Miriam Wu, which had continued after Bublanski left the room, was anything but by the book.

Modig was also surprised. She had never liked Faste and his macho style, but she had considered him a skilful police officer. That skill was glaringly absent today. It was obvious that Faste felt threatened by a beautiful, intelligent, and outspoken lesbian. It was equally obvious that Wu was aware of Faste’s irritation and ruthlessly played to it.

“So you found the strap-on in my drawer. What did you fantasize about then?”

Miriam Wu gave a curious smirk. Faste looked like he was going to explode.

“Shut up and answer the question.”

“You asked me if I ever fuck Lisbeth Salander with it. And my answer is that it’s none of your fucking business.”

Modig raised her hand: “The interview with Miriam Wu was interrupted for a break at 11:12 a.m.”

She turned off the tape recorder.

“Would you stay here, please, Miriam? Faste, I’d like a word with you.”

Miriam Wu smiled sweetly when Faste gave her a filthy look and slouched after Modig into the corridor. Modig spun around and looked Faste in the eye, her nose nearly touching his.

“Bublanski assigned me to take over the interview. Your help’s not worth shit.”

“Oh, come off it. That surly cunt is squirming like a snake.”

“Could there be some sort of Freudian symbolism in your choice of similes?”

“What?”

“Forget it. Go and find Curt and challenge him to a game of tic-tac-toe, or go and shoot your pistol in the club room, or do whatever the hell you want. Just stay away from this interview.”

“Why the hell are you acting this way, Modig?”

“Because you’re sabotaging my interview.”

“Are you so hot for her that you want to have her all to yourself?”

Before Modig could stop herself her hand shot out and slapped Faste across the face. She regretted it instantly, but it was too late. She glanced up and down the hall and saw that there were no witnesses, thank God.

At first Faste looked surprised. Then he sneered at her, tossed his jacket over his shoulder, and walked away. Modig almost called after him to apologize but decided against it. She waited a whole minute while she calmed down. Then she collected two cups of coffee from the vending machine and went back to Miriam Wu.

They sat in silence, drinking the coffee. At last Modig looked up.

“I’m sorry. This is probably one of the worst interviews ever conducted in police headquarters.”

“He seems like a great guy to work with. Let me guess: he’s heterosexual, divorced, and in charge of cracking gay jokes during coffee breaks.”

“He’s… a relic of something. That’s all I can say.”

“And you aren’t?”

“At least I’m not homophobic.”

“I’ll buy that.”

“Miriam, I… we, all of us, have been working around the clock for ten days now. We’re tired and pissed off. We’re trying to get to the bottom of a horrible double murder in Enskede and an equally horrible murder near Odenplan. Your friend Lisbeth Salander has been linked to the sites of both crimes. We have forensic evidence. A nationwide alert has been put out for her. Please understand that, whatever the cost, we have to apprehend her before she does harm to someone else or maybe to herself.”

“I know Lisbeth Salander. I can’t believe she murdered anyone.”

“You can’t believe it or you don’t want to? Miriam, we don’t put out a nationwide alert for someone without a damn good reason. But I can tell you this much: my boss, Criminal Inspector Bublanski, isn’t convinced that she’s guilty. We’re discussing the possibility that she had an accomplice, or that she was somehow drawn into all this against her will. But we have to find her. You believe she’s innocent, Miriam, but what happens if you’re wrong? You say yourself that you don’t know that much about her.”

“I don’t know what to believe.”

“Then help us figure out the truth.”

“Am I being arrested for anything?”

“No.”

“Can I leave here when I want?”

“Technically, yes.”

“And untechnically?”

“You’ll remain a question mark in our eyes.”

Miriam Wu weighed Modig’s words. “Fire away. If your questions piss me off I won’t answer.”

Modig turned on the tape recorder again.

Miriam Wu spent one more hour with Modig. Towards the end of the interview, Bublanski came into the room and sat down and listened without saying a word. Miriam Wu acknowledged him politely, but she carried on talking only to Modig.

Finally Modig looked at Bublanski and asked whether he had any more questions. Bublanski shook his head.

“I declare the interview with Miriam Wu concluded. The time is 1:09 p.m.” She turned off the tape recorder.

“I understand there was a little problem with Criminal Inspector Faste,” Bublanski said.

“He had difficulty concentrating,” said Modig neutrally.

“He’s an idiot,” said Miriam Wu.

“Criminal Inspector Faste actually does have many good points, but he may not be the best choice to interview a young woman,” said Bublanski, looking Miriam Wu in the eye. “I shouldn’t have entrusted him with the task. I apologize.”

Miriam Wu looked surprised. “Apology accepted. I was quite unfriendly to you at first too.”

Bublanski waved it off.

“May I ask you a few more things? With the tape recorder off?”

“Go ahead.”

“The more I hear about Lisbeth Salander, the more puzzled I become. The picture I get from the people who know her is inconsistent with the documentation from the social welfare and psychiatric agencies.”

“So?”

“Please give me some straight answers.”

“All right”

“The psychiatric evaluation that was done when Salander was eighteen concludes that she is mentally retarded.”

“Nonsense. Lisbeth is probably smarter than anyone I know.”

“She never graduated from school and doesn’t even have a certificate that says she can read and write.”

“Lisbeth reads and writes a whole lot better than I do. Sometimes she sits and scribbles mathematical formulas. Pure algebra. I have no clue about that sort of math.”

“Mathematics?”

“It’s a hobby she’s taken up.”

“A hobby?” asked Bublanski after a moment.

“Some sort of equations. I don’t even know what the symbols mean.”

Bublanski sighed.

“Social services wrote a report after she was brought in one time from Tantolunden when she was seventeen. It indicated that she was supporting herself as a prostitute.”

“Lisbeth a whore? Bullshit. I don’t know what sort of work she does, but I’m not the least bit surprised that she had a job at that security company.”

“How does she make a living?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is she a lesbian?”

“No. Lisbeth has sex with me, but that isn’t the same thing as being a dyke. I don’t think she knows herself what sort of sexual identity she has. I’d guess she’s bisexual.”

“What about the fact that you two use handcuffs and that sort of thing? Is Salander sadistically inclined, or how would you describe her?”

“You misunderstood all those sex toys. We may use handcuffs sometimes for role-playing, but it has nothing to do with sadism or violence. It’s a game.”

“Has she ever been violent towards you?”

“No. I’m usually the dominant one in our games.”

Miriam Wu smiled sweetly.

The afternoon meeting at 3:00 resulted in the first serious disagreement of the investigation. Bublanski gave an update and then explained that he felt they should be widening their scope.