Girl Who Played with Fire, The - Stieg Larsson [224]
And then there was the search for the fugitive Lisbeth Salander.
The net, so they said, was tightening. That day the police had surrounded the neighbourhood of Stallarholmen. She was armed and dangerous. She had shot and wounded a Hell’s Angels biker, possibly two. The shoot-out had taken place at the summer cabin of the murdered lawyer Nils Bjurman. By evening the police were ready to concede that she might have managed to elude the cordon.
Ekström had called a press conference. His responses were evasive. No, he could not say whether Salander had dealings with the Hell’s Angels. No, he could not confirm the rumour that Salander had been seen at the warehouse in Nykvarn. No, there was nothing to indicate that this was an underworld gang war. No, it could not be confirmed that Salander alone was responsible for the Enskede murders. They were now searching for her solely to question her about the circumstances of the murders.
Salander frowned. Something had shifted within the police investigation.
She went online and first read the newspapers’ reports, then accessed the hard drives of Ekström, Armansky, and Blomkvist, one by one.
Ekström’s email contained several messages of interest, in particular a memo sent by Jan Bublanski at 5:22 p.m. The email was brisk and devastatingly critical of Ekström’s management of the preliminary investigation. It ended with what was effectively an ultimatum. He demanded (a) that Inspector Modig be reinstated, effective immediately; (b) that the focus of the investigation be redirected so as to explore alternative solutions to the Enskede murders; and (c) that research be started without delay on the figure known only as Zala.
The accusations against Salander are based on a single direct piece of evidence—her fingerprints on the murder weapon. Which, I remind you, is proof that she handled the weapon but no proof that she fired it, and even less that she fired it at the murder victims.
We now know there are other players involved. The Södertälje police have found (so far) two bodies in shallow graves close to a warehouse owned by a cousin of Carl-Magnus Lundin. It should be obvious that Salander, however violent and whatever her psychological profile, had nothing to do with those deaths.
Bublanski finished by saying that if his demands were not met he would leave the investigative team, which he did not intend to do quietly. Ekström had replied that Bublanski should do what he thought was best. Salander obtained even more surprising information from Armansky’s hard drive. A brief exchange of emails with Milton’s payroll office established that Niklas Hedström had left the company, effective immediately. He would get vacation pay and three months’ severance. An email to the manager on duty stated that if Hedström came back to the building he could be escorted to his desk to remove personal effects and then escorted from the premises. An email to the technical department advised them that Hedström’s card key was to be devalidated.
But most interesting was an exchange between Armansky and Milton Security’s lawyer, Frank Alenius. Armansky asked how Salander could best be represented in the event that she was taken into custody. Alenius replied that there was no reason for Milton to become concerned with a former employee who had committed murder—it would not reflect well upon Milton Security were the company to be so involved. Armansky replied brusquely that Salander’s involvement in any murder was still an open question, and that his concern was to provide support for a former employee whom he considered innocent.
Blomkvist had not, Salander discovered, been on his computer since early the previous day. So no news.
Bohman laid the folder on the table in Armansky’s office. He sat down heavily. Fräklund opened it and began to read. Armansky stood by the window looking out at Gamla Stan.
“This is the last report I can deliver. I’ve been kicked off