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“Believe me, I’ve considered it. But whatever you may think, I’m doing everything in my power to protect the Section.”

He opened the door and met Nyström and Sandberg on their way in.

“Hello, Fredrik,” Nyström said. “We have to talk.”

“Wadensjöö was just leaving.”

Nyström waited until the door had closed. “Fredrik, I’m seriously worried.”

“What’s going on?”

“Sandberg and I have been thinking. Things are happening that we don’t understand. This morning Salander’s lawyer lodged her autobiographical statement with the prosecutor.”

“What?”

Inspector Faste scrutinized Advokat Giannini as Ekström poured coffee from a thermos jug. The document Ekström had been handed when he arrived at work that morning had taken both of them by surprise. He and Faste had read the forty pages of Salander’s story and discussed the extraordinary document at length. Finally he felt compelled to ask Giannini to come in for an informal chat.

They were sitting at the small conference table in Ekström’s office.

“Thank you for agreeing to come in,” Ekström said. “I have read this … hmm, account that arrived this morning, and there are a few matters I’d like to clarify.”

“I’ll do what I can to help” Giannini said.

“I don’t know exactly where to start. Let me say from the outset that both Inspector Faste and I are profoundly astonished.”

“Indeed?”

“I’m trying to understand what your objective is.”

“How do you mean?”

“This autobiography, or whatever you want to call it … What’s the point of it?”

“The point is perfectly clear. My client wants to set down her version of what has happened to her.”

Ekström gave a good-natured laugh. He stroked his goatee, an oft-repeated gesture that was beginning to irritate Giannini.

“Yes, but your client has had several months to explain herself. She hasn’t said a word in all her interviews with Faste.”

“As far as I know there is no law that forces my client to talk simply when it suits Inspector Faste.”

“No, but I mean … Salander’s trial will begin in four days’ time, and at the eleventh hour she comes up with this. To tell the truth, I feel a responsibility here which is beyond my duties as prosecutor.”

“You do?”

“I do not in the very least wish to sound offensive. That is not my intention. But we have a procedure for trials in this country. You, Fru Giannini, are a lawyer specialising in women’s rights, and you have never before represented a client in a criminal case. I did not charge Lisbeth Salander because she is a woman, but on a charge of grievous bodily harm. Even you, I believe, must have realized that she suffers from a serious mental illness and needs the protection and assistance of the state.”

“You’re afraid that I won’t be able to provide Lisbeth Salander with an adequate defence,” Giannini said in a friendly tone.

“I do not wish to be judgemental,” Ekström said, “and I don’t question your competence. I’m simply making the point that you lack experience.”

“I do understand, and I completely agree with you. I am woefully inexperienced when it comes to criminal cases.”

“And yet you have all along refused the help that has been offered by lawyers with considerably more experience—”

“At the express wish of my client. Lisbeth Salander wants me to be her lawyer, and accordingly I will be representing her in court.” She gave him a polite smile.

“Very well, but I do wonder whether in all seriousness you intend to offer the content of this statement to the court.”

“Of course. It’s her story.”

Ekström and Faste glanced at one another. Faste raised his eyebrows. He could not see what Ekström was fussing about. If Giannini did not understand that she was on her way to sinking her client, then that certainly was not the prosecutor’s fault. All they needed to do was to say thank you, accept the document, and put the issue aside.

As far as he was concerned, Salander was off her rocker. He had employed all his skills to persuade her to tell them, at the very least, where she lived. But in interview after