Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, The - Stieg Larsson [109]
“My office,” Bublanski said. “Bring some coffee.”
After they had settled in, Bublanski looked at the notes from his meeting with Ekström.
“As the situation stands, our preliminary investigation leader has dropped all charges against Lisbeth Salander relating to the murders for which she was being sought. She is no longer part of the preliminary investigation so far as we’re concerned.”
“That can be considered a step forward, at any rate,” Modig said.
Andersson, as usual, said nothing.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Bublanski said. “Salander is still suspected of G.B.H. in connection with the events at Stallarholmen and Gosseberga. But we’re no longer involved with those investigations. We have to concentrate on finding Niedermann and working on the graves in the woods at Nykvarn. On the other hand it’s now clear that Ekström is going to bring charges against Salander. The case has been transferred to Stockholm, and an entirely new investigation has been set up for the purpose.”
“Oh, really?” Modig said.
“And who do you think is going to investigate Salander?” Bublanski said.
“I’m fearing the worst.”
“Hans Faste is back on duty, and he’s going to assist Ekström.”
“That’s insane. Faste is grossly unsuited to investigate anything at all to do with Salander.”
“I know that. But Ekström has a good argument. Faste has been out sick since … hmm … he collapsed in April, and this would be the perfect, simple case for him to focus on.”
Silence.
“The long and the short of it is that we’re to hand all our material on Salander over to him this afternoon.”
“And this story about Gunnar Björck and Säpo and the 1991 report …”
“… is going to be handled by Faste and Ekström.”
“I don’t like this,” Modig said.
“Nor do I. But Ekström’s the boss, and he has backing from higher up in the bureaucracy. In other words, our job is still to find the killer. Curt, what’s the situation?”
Andersson shook his head. “Niedermann seems to have been swallowed up by the earth. I have to admit that in all my years on the force I’ve never seen anything like it. We haven’t had any tip-offs, and we don’t have a single informer who knows him or has any idea where he might be.”
“That sounds fishy,” Modig said. “But he’s being sought for the police murder in Gosseberga, for G.B.H on another officer, for the attempted murder of Salander, and for the aggravated kidnapping and assault of the dental nurse Anita Kaspersson, as well as for the murders of Svensson and Johansson. In every instance there’s good forensic evidence.”
“That helps a bit, at least. How’s it going with the case of Svavelsjö M.C.’s treasurer?”
“Viktor Göransson – and his girlfriend, Lena Nygren. Fingerprints and D.N.A. from Göransson’s body. Niedermann must have bloodied his knuckles pretty badly during the beating.”
“Anything new on Svavelsjö M.C.?”
“Nieminen has taken over as club president while Lundin remains in custody, awaiting trial for the kidnapping of Miriam Wu. There’s a whisper that Nieminen has offered a big reward to anyone who could provide information as to Niedermann’s whereabouts.”
“Which makes it even stranger that he hasn’t been found, if the entire underworld is looking for him. What about Göransson’s car?”
“Since we found Kaspersson’s car at Göransson’s place, we’re sure that Niedermann switched vehicles. But we have no trace of the car he took.”
“So we have to ask ourselves, one, is Niedermann still hiding out somewhere in Sweden?; two, if so, with whom?; three, is he out of the country? What do we think?”
“We have nothing to tell us that he has left the country, but really that seems his most logical course.”
“If he has gone, where did he ditch the car?”
Modig and Andersson shook their heads. Nine times out of ten, police work was largely uncomplicated when it came to looking for one specific individual. It was about initiating a logical