Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, The - Stieg Larsson [234]
“Not a word. He’s generally rather discreet when it comes to his lady friends. But sometimes he’s an open book. And you’re clearly hostile every time you even look at me. The pair of you obviously have something to hide.”
“It’s my boss,” Figuerola said.
“Where does he come into it?”
“He’d fly off the handle if he knew that Mikael and I were—”
“I can quite see that.”
Silence.
“I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but I’m not your rival,” Berger said.
“You’re not?”
“Mikael and I sleep together now and then. But I’m not married to him.”
“I heard that you two had a special relationship. He told me about you when we were out at Sandhamn.”
“So you’ve been to Sandhamn? Then it is serious.”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“Monica, I hope that you and Mikael … I’ll try to stay out of your way.”
“And if you can’t?”
Berger shrugged. “His ex-wife flipped out big time when Mikael was unfaithful with me. She threw him out. It was my fault. As long as Mikael is single and available, I would have no compunction. But I promised myself that if he was ever serious about someone, then I’d keep my distance.”
“I don’t know if I dare count on him.”
“Mikael is special. Are you in love with him?”
“I think so.”
“Alright, then. Just don’t tell him too soon. Now go to bed.”
Figuerola thought about it for a moment. Then she went upstairs, undressed and crawled into bed next to Blomkvist. He mumbled something and put his arm around her waist.
Berger sat alone in the kitchen for a long time. She felt deeply unhappy.
CHAPTER 25
Wednesday, 13.vii – Thursday, 14.vii
Blomkvist had always wondered why the loudspeakers in the district court were so faint, discreet almost. He could hardly make out the words of the announcement that the trial vs Lisbeth Salander would begin in courtroom 5 at 10.00. But he had arrived in plenty of time and positioned himself to wait right by the entrance to the courtroom. He was one of the first to be let in. He chose a seat in the public gallery on the left-hand side of the room, where he would have the best view of the defence table. The seats filled up fast. Media interest had steadily increased in the weeks leading up to the trial, and over the past week Prosecutor Ekström had been interviewed daily.
Lisbeth Salander was charged with assault and grievous bodily harm in the case of Carl-Magnus Lundin; with unlawful threats, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm in the case of Karl Axel Bodin, alias Alexander Zalachenko, now deceased; with two counts of breaking and entering – the first at the summer cabin of the deceased lawyer Nils Erik Bjurman in Stallarholmen, the second at Bjurman’s home on Odenplan; with the theft of a vehicle – a Harley-Davidson owned by one Sonny Nieminen of Svavelsjö M.C.; with three counts of possession of illegal weapons – a canister of Mace, a taser and a Polish P-83 Wanad, all found in Gosseberga; with the theft of or withholding of evidence – the formulation was imprecise but it referred to the documentation she had found in Bjurman’s summer cabin; and with a number of further misdemeanours. In all, sixteen charges had been filed against Lisbeth Salander.
Ekström had been busy.
He had also leaked information indicating that Salander’s mental state was cause for alarm. He cited first the forensic psychiatric report by Dr Jesper H. Löderman that had been compiled at the time of her eighteenth birthday, and second, a report which, in accordance with a decision by the district court at a preliminary hearing, had been written by Dr Peter Teleborian. Since the mentally ill girl had, true to form, refused categorically to speak to psychiatrists, the analysis was made on the basis of “observations” carried out while she was detained at Kronoberg prison in Stockholm during the month before her trial. Teleborian, who had many years of experience with the patient, had determined that Salander was suffering from a serious mental disturbance and employed words such as psychopathy, pathological narcissism, paranoid schizophrenia, and similar.
The press had also