“But if someone else got one in… would you report it to the police?”
Giannini raised her eyebrows. “If I didn’t know about it…”
“But if you did know about it, what would you do?”
“I’d shut my eyes. How about that?”
“This hypothetical computer is soon going to send you a hypothetical email. When you’ve read it I want you to come again.”
“Lisbeth –”
“Wait. It’s like this. The prosecutor is dealing with a marked deck. I’m at a disadvantage no matter what I do, and the purpose of the trial is to get me committed to a secure psychiatric ward.”
“I know.”
“If I’m going to survive, I have to fight dirty.”
Finally Giannini nodded.
“When you came to see me the first time,” Salander said, “you had a message from Blomkvist. He said that he’d told you almost everything, with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions had to do with the skills he discovered I had when we were in Hedestad.”
“That’s correct.”
“He was referring to the fact that I’m extremely good with computers. So good that I can read and copy what’s on Ekstrom’s machine.”
Giannini went pale.
“You can’t be involved in this. And you can’t use any of that material at the trial,” Salander said.
“Hardly. You’re right about that.”
“So you know nothing about it.”
“O.K.”
“But someone else – your brother, let’s say – could publish selected excerpts from it. You’ll have to think about this possibility when you plan your strategy.”
“I understand.”
“Annika, this trial is going to turn on who uses the toughest methods.”
“I know.”
“I’m happy to have you as my lawyer. I trust you and I need your help.”
“Hmm.”
“But if you get difficult about the fact that I’m going to use unethical methods, then we’ll lose the trial.”
“Right.”
“And if that were the case, I need to know now. I’d have to get myself a new lawyer.”
“Lisbeth, I can’t break the law.”
“You don’t have to break any law. But you do have to shut your eyes to the fact that I am. Can you manage that?”
Salander waited patiently for almost a minute before Annika nodded.
“Good. Let me tell you the main points that I’m going to put in my statement.”
Figuerola had been right. The
“How long have you been working out?” he said.
“Since I was a teenager.”
“And how many hours a week do you do it?”
“Two hours a day. Sometimes three.”
“Why? I mean, I understand why people work out, but…”
“You think it’s excessive.”
“I’m not sure exactly what I think.”
She smiled and did not seem at all irritated by his questions.
“Maybe you’re just bothered by seeing a girl with muscles. Do you think it’s a turn-off, or unfeminine?”
“No, not at all. It suits you somehow. You’re very sexy.”
She laughed.
“I’m cutting back on the training now. Ten years ago I was doing rock-hard bodybuilding. It was cool. But now I have to be careful that the muscles don’t turn to fat. I don’t want to get flabby. So I lift weights once a week and spend the rest of the time doing some cross-training, or running, playing badminton, or swimming, that sort of thing. It’s exercise more than hard training.”
“I see.”
“The reason I work out is that it feels great. That’s a normal phenomenon among people who do extreme training. The body produces a pain-suppressing chemical and you become addicted to it. If you don’t run every day, you get withdrawal symptoms after a while. You feel an enormous sense of wellbeing when you give something your all. It’s almost as powerful as good sex.”
Blomkvist laughed.
“You should start working out yourself,” she said. “You’re getting a little thick in the waist.”
“I know,” he said. “A constant guilty conscience. Sometimes I start running regularly and lose a couple of kilos. Then I get involved in something and don’t get time to do it again for a month or two.”
“You’ve been pretty busy these last few months. I’ve been reading a lot about you. You beat the police by several lengths when you tracked down Zalachenko and identified Niedermann.”
“Lisbeth Salander was faster.”
“How did you find out Niedermann was in Gosseberga?”
Blomkvist shrugged. “Routine research. I wasn’t the one who found him. It was our assistant editor, well, now our editor-in-chief Malin Eriksson who managed to dig him up through the corporate records. He was on the board of Zalachenko’s company, K.A.B Import.”
“That simple…”
“And why did you become a Sapo activist?” he said.
“Believe it or not, I’m something as old-fashioned as a democrat. I mean, the police are necessary, and a democracy needs a political safeguard. That’s why I’m proud to be working at Constitutional Protection.”
“Is it really something to be proud of?” said Blomkvist.
“You don’t like the Security Police.”
“I don’t like institutions that are beyond normal parliamentary scrutiny. It’s an invitation to abuse of power, no matter how noble the intentions. Why are you so interested in the religion of antiquity?”
Figuerola looked at Blomkvist.
“You were reading a book about it on my staircase,” he said.
“The subject fascinates me.”
“I see.”
“I’m interested in a lot of things. I’ve studied law and political science while I’ve worked for the police. Before that I studied both philosophy and the history of ideas.”
“Do you have any weaknesses?”
“I don’t read fiction, I never go to the cinema, and I watch only the news on T.V. How about you? Why did you become a journalist?”
“Because there are institutions like Sapo that lack parliamentary oversight and which have to be exposed from time to time. I don’t really know. I suppose my answer to that is the same one you gave me: I believe in a constitutional democracy and sometimes it has to be protected.”
“The way you did with Hans-Erik Wennerstrom?”
“Something like that.”
“You’re not married. Are you and Erika Berger together?”
“Erika Berger’s married.”
“So all the rumours about you two are nonsense. Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No-one steady.”
