"Check your email," Blomkvist said and hung up. He went over to his desk and booted up his iBook. He opened Word and sat there concentrating for two minutes before he started writing.
Millennium's editor in chief, Erika Berger, is deeply shaken by the murder of freelance journalist and colleague Dag Svensson. She hopes that the murders will soon be solved.
It was Millennium's publisher, Mikael Blomkvist, who discovered Dag Svensson and his girlfriend murdered last Wednesday night.
"Dag Svensson was a fantastically gifted journalist and a person I liked a lot. He had proposed several ideas for articles. Among other things, he was working on a major investigation into illegal computer hacking," Mikael Blomkvist tells Aftonbladet.
Neither Blomkvist nor Berger will speculate about who might be guilty of the murders, or what motive might lie behind them.
Blomkvist picked up the telephone and called Berger.
"Hi, Ricky. You've just been interviewed by Aftonbladet."
"Do tell."
He read her the quote.
"How come?"
"Every word is true. Dag has worked freelance for ten years, and one of his specializations was computer security. I discussed it with him many times, and we were considering running an article by him on it when we finished the trafficking story. And do you know anyone else who is interested in hacking?"
Berger realized what he was trying to do.
"Smart, Micke. Damned smart. OK. Run it."
Nicklasson called back a minute after he got Blomkvist's email.
"That's not much of a sound bite."
"That's all you're getting, and it's more than any other paper will get. You run the whole quote or nothing."
Blomkvist went back to his iBook. He thought for a minute and then wrote:
Dear Lisbeth,
I'm writing this letter and leaving it on my hard drive knowing that sooner or later you'll read it. I remember the way you took over Wennerstrom's hard drive two years ago and suspect that you also made sure to hack my machine. It's clear that you don't want to have anything to do with me now. I don't intend to ask why and you don't have to explain.
The events of the past few days have linked us again, whether you like it or not. The police are saying that you murdered two people I was very fond of. I was the one who discovered Dag and Mia minutes after they were shot. I don't think it was you who shot them. I certainly hope it wasn't. The police claim you're a psychotic killer, but that would mean that I totally misjudged you or that you've changed dramatically over the past year. And if you're not the murderer, then the police are chasing the wrong person.
In this situation I should probably urge you to turn yourself in to the police, but I suspect I'd be wasting my breath. Sooner or later you're going to be found, and when that happens you're going to need a friend. You may not want to have anything to do with me, but I have a sister called Annika Giannini and she's a lawyer. The best. She's willing to represent you if you get in touch with her. You can trust her.
As far as Millennium is concerned, we've begun our own investigation into why Dag and Mia were murdered. What I'm doing right now is putting together a list of the people who had reason to want to silence Dag. I don't know if I'm on the right track, but I'm going to check the list one person at a time.
One problem I have is that I don't understand how Nils Bjurman fits into the picture. He isn't mentioned anywhere in Dag's material, and I can't fathom any connection between him and Dag and Mia.
Help me. Please. What's the connection?
Mikael.
P.S. You should get a new passport photo. That one doesn't do you justice.
He named the document [To Sally]. Then he created a folder that he named and put an icon for it on the desktop of his iBook.
On Tuesday morning Armansky called a meeting in his office at Milton Security. He had brought in three people.
Johan Fraklund, a former criminal inspector with the Solna police, was the chief of Milton's operations unit. He had overall responsibility for planning and analysis. Armansky had recruited him ten years earlier and had come to regard him, now in his early sixties, as one of the company's most valuable assets.
Armansky also called in Sonny Bohman and Niklas Hedstrom. Bohman too was