Girl Who Played with Fire, The - Stieg Larsson [235]
The documents would lead the police to Gosseberga, but at least he would have a head start.
He started Word and wrote in outline form the key facts he had discovered during the past twenty-four hours from his conversations with Björck and Palmgren, and from the material he had found at Salander’s place. It took him about an hour. He burned the document onto a CD along with his own research.
He wondered whether he ought to check in with Armansky, but thought the hell with it. He had enough balls to juggle already.
Blomkvist walked into Millennium and went straight to Berger’s office.
“His name is Zalachenko,” he said without even saying hello. “He’s a former Soviet hit man from one of the intelligence services. He defected in 1976 and was granted asylum in Sweden and given a salary by Säpo. After the end of the Soviet Union he became, like many others, a full-time gangster. Now he’s involved in sex trafficking and smuggling weapons and drugs.”
Berger put down her pen. “Why am I not surprised that the KGB is popping up in the action?”
“It’s not the KGB. It’s the GRU. The military intelligence service.”
“So it’s serious.”
Blomkvist nodded.
“You mean he’s the one who murdered Dag and Mia?”
“It wasn’t him, no. He sent someone. Ronald Niedermann, the monster that Malin has been finding out about.”
“Can you prove this?”
“More or less. Some of it is guesswork. But Bjurman was murdered because he asked Zalachenko for help in dealing with Lisbeth.”
Blomkvist told her about the DVD Salander had left in her desk.
“Zalachenko is her father. Bjurman worked formally for Säpo in the mid-seventies and was one of those who made Zalachenko officially welcome when he defected. Later Bjurman became a lawyer with his own practice and a full-time crook, doing jobs for an elite group within the Security Police. I would think there’s an inner circle that meets now and then in the men’s sauna to control the world and keep the secret about Zalachenko. I’m guessing that the rest of Säpo has never even heard of the bastard. Lisbeth threatened to crack the secret wide open. So they locked her up in a children’s psychiatric unit.”
“That can’t be true.”
“Oh, but it is,” Blomkvist said. “Lisbeth wasn’t especially manageable then, nor is she now … but since she was twelve years old she’s been a threat to national security.”
He gave her a summary of the story.
“This is quite a bit to digest,” Berger said. “And Dag and Mia…”
“Were murdered because Dag discovered the link between Bjurman and Zalachenko.”
“So what happens now? We have to tell the police, don’t we?”
“Parts of it, but not all. I’ve copied the significant information onto this disk as backup, just in case. Lisbeth is looking for Zalachenko. I’m going to try to find her. Nothing of this must be shared with anybody.”
“Mikael… I don’t like this. We can’t withhold information in a murder investigation.”
“And we’re not going to. I intend to call Bublanski. But my guess is that Lisbeth is on her way to Gosseberga. She’s still being sought for three murders, and if we call the police they’ll unleash their armed response team and backup weapons with hunting ammunition, and there’s a real risk that she would resist arrest. And then anything could happen.” He stopped and smiled grimly. “If nothing else, we ought to keep the police out of it so that the armed response team doesn’t come to a sticky end. I have to find her first.”
Berger looked dubious.
“I don’t intend to reveal Lisbeth’s secrets. Bublanski will have to figure those out for himself. I want you to do me a favour. This folder contains Björck’s report from 1991 and some correspondence between Björck and Teleborian. I want you to make a copy and offer it to Bublanski or Modig. I’m leaving