The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t say, for example, how you came to be in possession of the top secret Säpo report on Zalachenko.”
    “I found it yesterday at Lisbeth Salander’s apartment when I finally worked out where she was. She probably found it in Bjurman’s summer cabin.”
    “So you’ve discovered Salander’s hideout?” Modig said.
    Blomkvist nodded.
    “And?”
    “You’ll have to find out for yourselves where it is. Salander put a lot of effort into establishing a secret address for herself, and I have no intention of revealing its whereabouts.”
    Modig and Holmberg exchanged an anxious look.
    “Mikael . . . this is a murder investigation,” Modig said.
    “You still don’t get it, do you? Lisbeth Salander is in fact innocent and the police have destroyed her reputation in unprecedented ways. ‘Lesbian Satanist gang’ . . . Where the hell do you get this stuff? Not to mention her being sought in connection with three murders she had nothing to do with. If she wants to tell you where she lives, then I’m sure she will.”
    “But there’s another gap I don’t really understand,” Holmberg said.“How does Bjurman come into the story in the first place? You say he was the one who started the whole thing by contacting Zalachenko and asking him to kill Salander. Why would he do that?”
    “My guess is that he hired Zalachenko to get rid of Salander. The plan was for her to end up in that warehouse in Nykvarn.”
    “He was her guardian. What motive would he have had to get rid of her?”
    “It’s complicated.”
    “I can do complicated.”
    “He had a hell of a good motive. He had done something that Salander knew about. She was a threat to his entire future and well-being.”
    “What had he done?”
    “I think it would be best if you gave Salander a chance to explain the story herself.” He looked Holmberg steadily in the eye.
    “Let me guess,” Modig said. “Bjurman subjected his ward to some sort of sexual assault.”
    Blomkvist shrugged and said nothing.
    “You don’t know about the tattoo Bjurman had on his abdomen?”
    “What tattoo?” Blomkvist was taken aback.
    “An amateurish tattoo across his belly with a message that said: ‘I am a sadistic pig, a pervert, and a rapist.’ We’ve been wondering what that was about.”
    Blomkvist burst out laughing.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “I’ve always wondered what she did to get her revenge. But listen, I don’t want to discuss this for the same reason I’ve already given. She’s the real victim here. She’s the one who has to decide what she is willing to tell you. Sorry.”
    He looked almost apologetic.
    “Rapes should always be reported to the police,” Modig said.
    “I’m with you on that. But this rape took place two years ago, and Lisbeth still hasn’t talked to the police about it. Which means that she doesn’t intend to. It doesn’t matter how much I disagree with her about the matter; it’s her decision. Anyway . . .”
    “Yes?”
    “She had no good reason to trust the police. The last time she tried explaining what a pig Zalachenko was, she was locked up in a mental hospital.”
    •    •    •
    Richard Ekström, the leader of the preliminary investigation, had butterflies in his stomach as he asked his team leader, Inspector Bublanski, to take a seat across from him. Ekström straightened his glasses and stroked his well-groomed goatee. He felt that the situation was chaotic and ominous. For several weeks they had been hunting Lisbeth Salander. He himself had proclaimed her far and wide to be mentally imbalanced, a dangerous psychopath. He had leaked information that would have backed him up in an upcoming trial. Everything had looked so good.
    There had been no doubt in his mind that Salander was guilty of three murders. The trial should have been a straightforward matter, a pure media circus with himself at centre stage. Then everything had gone haywire, and he found himself with a completely different