Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, The - Stieg Larsson [243]
Edklinth then took a sip of coffee and sat in silence. When nothing was said for two minutes, he reached out and turned off the tape recorder. He stood up.
“I’ll see that you’re taken upstairs in a few minutes. Good evening.”
“I didn’t murder anyone,” Wadensjöö said when Edklinth had already opened the door. Edklinth paused on the threshold.
“I’m not interested in having a general discussion with you. If you want to explain yourself, then I’ll sit down and turn the tape recorder back on. All of Swedish officialdom – and the Prime Minister in particular – is eagerly waiting to hear what you have to say. If you tell me, then I can go and see the Prime Minister tonight to give him your version of events. If you don’t tell me, you will be charged and convicted anyway.”
“Please sit down,” Wadensjöö said.
It was evident to everyone that he was resigned to it already. Blomkvist exhaled. He was there with Figuerola, Prosecutor Gustavsson, the otherwise anonymous Säpo officer Stefan, and two other altogether nameless individuals. Blomkvist suspected that one of them at least was there to represent the Minister of Justice.
“I had nothing to do with the murders,” Wadensjöö said when Edklinth started the tape recorder again.
“Murders?” Blomkvist whispered to Figuerola.
“Ssshh,” she said.
“It was Clinton and Gullberg. I had no idea what they intended. I swear it. I was utterly shocked when I heard that Gullberg had shot Zalachenko. I couldn’t believe it … I simply couldn’t believe it. And when I heard about Björck I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
“Tell me about Björck’s murder,” Edklinth said without altering his tone. “How was it carried out?”
“Clinton hired some people. I don’t even know how it happened, but it was two Yugoslavs. Serbs, if I’m not mistaken. Georg Nyström gave them the contract and paid them afterwards. When I found out, I knew it would end in disaster.”
“Should we take this from the beginning?” Edklinth said. “When did you first start working for the Section?”
Once Wadensjöö had begun to talk he could not be stopped. The interview lasted for almost five hours.
CHAPTER 26
Friday, 15.vii
Teleborian’s appearance inspired confidence as he sat in the witness box in the courtroom on Friday morning. He was questioned by Prosecutor Ekström for some ninety minutes and he replied with calm authority to every question. The expression on his face was sometimes concerned and sometimes amused.
“To sum up …” Ekström said, leafing through his sheaf of papers. “It is your judgement as a psychiatrist of long standing that Lisbeth Salander suffers from paranoid schizophrenia?”
“I have said that it is unusually difficult to make a precise evaluation of her condition. The patient is, as you know, almost autistic in her relation to doctors and other figures of authority. My assessment is that she suffers from a serious mental disorder, but that at the present time I cannot give an exact diagnosis. Nor can I determine what stage of the psychosis she is in without more extensive study.”
“At any rate, you don’t consider her to be sane.”
“Indeed her entire history presents most compelling proof that she is not sane.”
“You have been allowed to read what Lisbeth Salander has termed her ‘autobiography’, which she has presented to the district court. What are your comments on this?”
Teleborian threw up his hands and shrugged.
“How would you judge the credibility of her account?”
“There is no credibility. It is a series of assertions about various individuals, one story more fantastical than