Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, The - Stieg Larsson [28]
“I can understand why you’d want to quit this madhouse … but to be the head of Sweden’s most turgid old-boy newspaper … that’s going to take some time to sink in.”
“There are quite a few girls working there nowadays.”
“Rubbish. Check the masthead. It’s status quo all the way. You must be a raving masochist. Shall we go and have some coffee?”
Berger sat up. “I have to know what happened in Göteborg.”
“I’m writing the story now,” Blomkvist said. “And there’s going to be war when we publish it. We’ll put it out in at the same time as the trial. I hope you’re not thinking of taking the story with you to S.M.P. The fact is I need you to write something on the Zalachenko story before you leave here.”
“Micke … I …”
“Your very last editorial. Write it whenever you like. It almost certainly won’t be published before the trial, whenever that might be.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. What do you think it should be about?”
“Morality,” Blomkvist said. “And the story of why one of our colleagues was murdered because the government didn’t do its job fifteen years ago.”
Berger knew exactly what kind of editorial he wanted. She had been at the helm when Svensson was murdered, after all. She suddenly felt in a much better mood.
“O.K.,” she said. “My last editorial.”
CHAPTER 4
Saturday, 9.iv – Sunday, 10.iv
By 1.00 on Saturday afternoon, Prosecutor Fransson in Södertälje had finished her deliberations. The burial ground in the woods in Nykvarn was a wretched mess, and the Violent Crimes Division had racked up a vast amount of overtime since Wednesday, when Paolo Roberto had fought his boxing match with Niedermann in the warehouse there. They were dealing with at least three murders with the bodies found buried on the property, along with the kidnapping and assault of Salander’s friend Miriam Wu, and on top of it all, arson.
The incident in Stallarholmen was connected with the discoveries at Nykvarn, and was actually located within the Strängnäs police district in Södermanland county. Carl-Magnus Lundin of the Svavelsjö Motorcycle Club was a key player in the whole thing, but he was in hospital in Södertälje with one foot in a cast and his jaw wired shut. Accordingly, all of these crimes came under county police jurisdiction, which meant that Stockholm would have the last word.
On Friday the court hearing was held. Lundin was formally charged in connection with Nykvarn. It had eventually been established that the warehouse was owned by the Medimport Company, which in turn was owned by one Anneli Karlsson, a 52-year-old cousin of Lundin who lived in Puerto Banús, Spain. She had no criminal record.
Fransson closed the folder that held all the preliminary investigation papers. These were still in the early stages and there would need to be another hundred pages of detailed work before they were ready to go to trial. But right now she had to make decisions on several matters. She looked up at her police colleagues.
“We have enough evidence to charge Lundin with participating in the kidnapping of Miriam Wu. Paolo Roberto has identified him as the man who drove the van. I’m also going to charge him with probable involvement in arson. We’ll hold back on charging him with the murders of the three individuals we dug up on the property, at least until each of them has been identified.”
The officers nodded. That was what they had been expecting.
“What’ll we do about Sonny Nieminen?”
Fransson leafed through to the section on Nieminen in the papers on her desk.
“This is a man with an impressive criminal history. Robbery, possession of illegal weapons, assault, G.B.H., manslaughter and drug crime. He was arrested with Lundin at Stallarholmen. I’m convinced that he’s involved, but we don’t have the evidence to persuade a court.”
“He says he’s never been to the Nykvarn warehouse and that he just happened to be out with Lundin on a motorcycle ride,” said the detective responsible for Stallarholmen on behalf of the Södertälje police. “He claims he had no idea what Lundin was up to in Stallarholmen.”
Fransson