Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, The - Stieg Larsson [105]
“I regret it, but I cannot reveal the name of anyone working on this case. But I can say that my instructions come from the very highest levels.”
Good Lord. He’s acting on orders from the government. But he can’t say without unleashing a political firestorm.
Nyström saw that Ekström had swallowed the bait.
“What I am able to do, however, is to provide you with information. I have been given the authority to use my own judgement in giving you sight of material that is, some of it, the most highly classified in this country.”
“I see.”
“This means that if you have questions about something, whatever it may be, then you should turn to me. You must not talk to anyone else in the Security Police, only to me. My assignment is to be your guide in this labyrinth, and if clashes between various interests threaten to arise, then we will assist each other in finding solutions.”
“I understand. In that case I should say how grateful I am that you and your colleagues are willing to facilitate matters for me.”
“We want the legal process to take its course even though this is a difficult situation.”
“Good. I assure you that I will exercise the utmost discretion. This isn’t the first time I’ve handled Top Secret information, after all.”
“No, we are quite aware of that.”
Ekström had a dozen questions that Nyström meticulously noted, and then answered as best he could. On this third visit Ekström would be given answers to several of the questions he had asked earlier. Among them, and most crucially: what was the truth surrounding Björck’s report from 1991?
“That is a serious matter.” Nyström adopted a concerned expression. “Since this report surfaced, we have had an analysis group working almost round the clock to discover exactly what happened. We are now close to the point where we can draw conclusions. And they are most unpleasant.”
“I can well imagine. That report alleges that the Security Police and the psychiatrist Peter Teleborian co-operated to place Lisbeth Salander in psychiatric care.”
“If only that were the case,” Nyström said with a slight smile.
“I don’t understand.”
“If that was all there was to it, the matter would be simple. Then a crime would have been committed and led to a prosecution. The difficulty is that this report does not correspond with other reports that we have in our archives.” Nyström took out a blue folder and opened it. “What I have here is the report that Gunnar Björck actually wrote in 1991. Here too are the original documents from the correspondence between him and Teleborian. The two versions do not agree.”
“Please explain.”
“The appalling thing is that Björck has hanged himself. Presumably because of the threat of revelations about his sexual deviations. Blomkvist’s magazine was intending to expose him. That drove him to such depths of despair that he took his own life.”
“Well …”
“The original report is an account of Lisbeth Salander’s attempt to murder her father, Alexander Zalachenko, with a petrol bomb. The first thirty pages of the report that Blomkvist discovered agree with the original. These pages, frankly, contain nothing remarkable. It’s not until page thirty-three, where Björck draws conclusions and makes recommendations, that the discrepancy arises.”
“What discrepancy?”
“In the original version Björck presents five well-argued recommendations. We don’t need to hide the fact that they concern playing down the Zalachenko affair in the media and so forth. Björck proposes that Zalachenko’s rehabilitation – he suffered very severe burns – be carried out abroad. And things similar. He also recommends that Salander should be offered the best conceivable psychiatric care.”
“I see …”
“The problem is that a number of sentences were altered in a very subtle way. On page thirty-four there is a paragraph in which Björck appears to suggest that Salander be branded psychotic, so that she will not be believed if anyone should start asking questions about Zalachenko.”
“And this suggestion is not in the original report.”
“Precisely. Gunnar Björck’s own report never