Girl Who Played with Fire, The - Stieg Larsson [86]
Blomkvist sat in silence for a moment.
“It’s a complicated story. I’ve got two problems right now. One is about a girl I met two years ago who helped me on the Wennerström affair and then just disappeared from my life with no explanation. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of her in more than a year, except for last week.”
Blomkvist told her about the attack on Lundagatan.
“Did you report it to the police?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“This girl is manically private. She was the one who was attacked. She’ll have to make the report.”
Which Blomkvist expected would not be high on Salander’s list of priorities.
“Bullheaded as usual,” Annika said, patting Blomkvist on the cheek. “What’s the second problem?”
“We’re working on a story at Millennium that’s going to make headlines. I’ve been sitting all evening wondering whether I should consult you. As a lawyer, I mean.”
Annika glanced in surprise at her brother. “Consult me?” she exclaimed. “That’d be something new.”
“The story’s about trafficking and violence against women. You deal with violence against women and you’re a lawyer. You probably don’t work with cases of freedom of the press, but I would be really grateful if you could read through the manuscript before we send it to the printer. There are magazine articles and a book, so there’s quite a bit to read.”
Annika was silent as she turned down the Hammarby industrial road and passed Sickla lock. She wound her way down side streets parallel to Nynäsvägen until she could turn up Enskedevägen.
“You know, Mikael, I’ve been really mad at you only once in my whole life.”
“Is that so?” he said, surprised.
“It was when you were taken to court by Wennerström and sent to prison for libel. I was so furious with you that I thought I would explode.”
“Why? I only made a fool of myself.”
“You’ve made a fool of yourself many times before. But this time you needed a lawyer, and the only person you didn’t turn to was me. Instead you sat there taking shit in both the media and the courtroom. You didn’t even defend yourself. I thought I was going to die.”
“There were special circumstances. There wasn’t a thing you could have done.”
“All right, but I didn’t understand that until later, when Millennium got back on its feet and mopped the floor with Wennerström. Until that happened I was so damn disappointed in you.”
“There was no way we could have won that trial.”
“You’re not getting the point, big brother. I understand that it was a hopeless case. I’ve read the judgment. The point was that you didn’t come to me and ask for help. As in, hey, little sister, I need a lawyer. That’s why I never turned up in court.”
Blomkvist thought it over.
“I’m sorry. I admit it, I should have done that.”
“Yes, you should have.”
“I wasn’t functioning at all that year. I couldn’t face talking to anybody. I just wanted to lie down and die.”
“Which you didn’t do, exactly.”
“Forgive me.”
Annika Giannini gave him a big smile.
“Beautiful. An apology two years later. OK. I’ll happily read through the text. Are you in a rush?”
“Yes. We’re going to press very soon. Turn left here.”
Annika parked across the street from the building on Björneborgsvägen where Svensson and Johansson lived. “This’ll just take a minute,” Blomkvist said. He jogged across the street to punch in the door code. As soon as he was inside he could tell that something was wrong. He heard excited voices echoing in the stairwell and ran up the three flights to the apartment. Not until he reached their floor did he realize that the commotion was all around their apartment. Five neighbours were standing on the landing. The apartment door was ajar.
“What’s going on?” Blomkvist said, more out of curiosity than concern.
They all fell silent and looked at him. Three women, two men, all in their seventies it seemed. One of the women was wearing a nightgown.
“It sounded like shots,” said a man in a brown dressing gown, who seemed to know what he was talking about.
“Shots?”
“Just now. There was shooting in the apartment about a minute ago. The door was open.”
Blomkvist pushed forward