Girl Who Played with Fire, The - Stieg Larsson [173]
Hi Sally.
Thanks for finally telling me you’re innocent. I believed in you, but even I have been affected by the media noise and felt some doubt. Forgive me. It feels good to hear it straight from your keyboard. All that’s left is to uncover the real killer. You and I have done that before. It would help if you weren’t so cagey. I assume you’re reading my research journal. Then you know about as much as I do and how I’m thinking. I think Björck knows something and I’ll have another talk with him in the next few days. Am I on the wrong track, checking off the girls’ clients?
This thing with the police report surprises me. I’ll get my colleague Malin Eriksson to dig into it. You were how old then, twelve or thirteen? What was the report about?
Your attitude towards Teleborian is duly noted.
M.
P.S. You made a mistake in the Wennerström coup. I knew what you’d done—in Sandhamn over Christmas—but didn’t ask since you didn’t mention it. And I have no intention of telling you what the mistake was unless you meet me for a coffee.
The reply, when it came, said:
You can forget about the johns. Zala’s the one who’s of interest. And a blond giant. But the police report is interesting since somebody seems to want to hide it. That can’t be an accident.
Prosecutor Ekström was in a foul mood when Bublanski’s team gathered for the morning meeting on Monday. More than a week’s searching for a named suspect with a distinctive appearance had produced no result. Ekström’s mood did not improve when Andersson, who had been on duty over the weekend, told him of the latest development.
“A break-in?” Ekström said with undisguised amazement.
“The neighbour called on Sunday evening to say that the police tape on Bjurman’s door had been cut. I checked on it.”
“And?”
“The tape was cut in three places. Probably a razor blade or a Stanley knife. A slick job. It was hard to see.”
“A burglary? There are hooligans who specialize in dead people’s apartments—”
“Not a burglary. I went through the apartment. All the valuables, DVD player and such, were still there. But Bjurman’s car key was lying on the kitchen table.”
“Car key?”
“Jerker was in the apartment on Wednesday to check if we’d missed something. He also checked the car. He swears there wasn’t a car key on the kitchen table when he left the apartment and put the tape back up.”
“Could he have forgotten and left it out? Nobody’s perfect.”
“Jerker never used that key. He used the one on Bjurman’s key ring, which we had already confiscated.”
Bublanski stroked his chin. “So, not a normal break-in then.”
“Someone got into Bjurman’s apartment and sniffed around. It must have happened between Wednesday and Sunday evening, when the neighbour telephoned.”
“Somebody was looking for something. What? Jerker?”
“There’s nothing of any interest left in there, nothing that we didn’t already confiscate.”
“Nothing that we know of, at least. The motive for the murder is still unclear. We assume that Salander is a psychopath, but even psychopaths need motives.”
“What do you suggest?”
“I don’t know. Someone searched Bjurman’s apartment. First question: Who? Second question: Why? What was it we missed?”
“Jerker?”
Holmberg gave a resigned sigh. “OK. I’ll go through the apartment. This time with tweezers.”
• • •
Salander woke up at 11:00 on Monday morning. She lay dozing for about half an hour before she got up, put on coffee, and took a shower. Then she made herself some breakfast and sat down at her PowerBook for an update on what was happening in Prosecutor Ekström’s computer and to read the online editions of the papers. Interest in the Enskede murders had evidently declined. Then she opened Svensson’s research folder and read through his notes from his meeting with the journalist Per-Åke Sandström, the john who ran errands for the sex mafia and who knew something about Zala. When she was finished, she poured herself more coffee and sat in her window seat to think.
By 4:00 she had thought enough.
She needed cash. She had three credit cards. One of them was in her own name and