straight from Bjurman's to Enskede and parked the white Volvo two streets away. As luck would have it, the front door of the building was not locked. He went up and rang the doorbell with the nameplate SVENSSON-JOHANSSON.
He had fired two shots - there was a woman in the apartment too. He didn't search the apartment or take any of their papers with him. He did take a computer that was on the table in the living room. He turned on his heel, went down the stairs, and out to his car. His only mistake had been dropping the revolver on the stairs while he was trying to balance the laptop and at the same time fish out his car keys. He stopped for a second, but the gun had skittered down the stairs to the basement, and he decided it would take too much time to go down and get it. He knew he was someone people would not forget having seen, so the important thing was to get out of there before anyone laid eyes on him.
The dropped revolver had been at first a source of criticism until Zala realized its implications. They were astonished when the police began a search for Salander. His mistake had turned into an incredible stroke of luck.
It also created a new problem. Salander became the only remaining weak link. She had known Bjurman and she knew Zala. She could put two and two together. When he and Zala conferred about the matter they were in agreement. They had to find Salander and bury her somewhere. It would be ideal if she were never found. Then the murder investigation would eventually be shelved.
They had taken a chance that Miriam Wu could lead them to Salander. And then everything had gone wrong again. Paolo Roberto. Of all people. Out of nowhere. And according to the newspapers he was also friends with Salander.
The giant was dumbfounded.
After Nykvarn he had gone to Lundin's house in Svavelsjo, only a hundred yards from Svavelsjo MC's headquarters. Not an ideal hiding place, but he didn't have many options. He had to find somewhere to lie low until the bruises on his face began to fade and he could make himself scarce. He fingered his broken nose and felt the lump on his neck. The swelling had begun to subside.
It had been a good move to go back and burn down the whole fucking place.
Then, suddenly, he went ice cold.
Bjurman. He had met Bjurman once at his summer cabin. In early February - when Zala had accepted the job of taking care of Salander. Bjurman had had a file about Salander that he had leafed through. How could he have forgotten that? It could lead to Zala.
He went down to the kitchen and told Lundin to get himself to Stallarholmen as fast as he could and start another fire.
Bublanski spent his lunch break trying to put in order the investigation he knew was about to collapse. He spent time with Andersson and Bohman, who brought him up to date on the hunt for Salander. Tips had come in from Goteborg and Norrkoping. Goteborg they ruled out right away, but the Norrkoping sighting had potential. They informed their colleagues, and a cautious stakeout was put on an address where a girl who looked a little like Salander had been seen.
He tried to find Faste, but he was not in the building and did not answer his mobile. After the stormy meeting, Faste had vanished.
Bublanski then went to see Ekstrom to try to defuse the problem with Modig. He set out all his reasons for thinking the decision to take her off the case was foolhardy. Ekstrom would not listen, and Bublanski decided to file a complaint after the weekend. It was an idiotic situation.
Just after 3:00 he stepped into the corridor and saw Hedstrom coming out of Modig's office, where he was still supposed to be combing through Svensson's hard drive. Bublanski thought it was now a meaningless exercise, since no real detective was looking over his shoulder to check what he might have missed. He decided that Hedstrom should be with Andersson for the rest of the week.
Before he had a chance to say anything, Hedstrom disappeared into the toilet at the far end of the corridor. Bublanski went over to Modig's empty office to wait for him to return.
Then his eye fell on Hedstrom's mobile, which lay forgotten on the shelf behind his desk.
Bublanski glanced at the door to