No-one else looked after her interests better over the years."
"The problem was always that I didn't know enough. Lisbeth was my client, but she never uttered a word about Zalachenko. When she got out of St.Stefan's it was years before she manifested the slightest trust in me. It was only after the hearing that I sensed she was very slowly starting to communicate with me beyond the necessary formalities."
"How did she happen to start telling you about Zalachenko?"
"I suppose that in spite of everything she had begun to trust me. Besides, on a number of occasions I'd raised the subject of having the incompetency declaration rescinded. Apparently, she thought it over and then one day she called and wanted to meet. And she told me the whole story about Zalachenko and how she viewed what had happened. You'll probably appreciate that it was a lot for me to take in. But I started digging around in the story straightaway. I couldn't find a Zalachenko in any database in all of Sweden. I did sometimes wonder whether she might be imagining the whole thing."
"After you had your stroke, Bjurman became her guardian. That couldn't have been an accident."
"No. I don't know if we'll ever be able to prove it, but I've been thinking that if we tried hard enough we would find... whoever it is that took over after Bjorck and is in charge of the cleanup of the Zalachenko affair."
"I don't wonder at Lisbeth's absolute refusal to talk to psychiatrists or the authorities," Blomkvist said. "Every time she did, it only made matters worse. She tried to explain what had happened and no-one listened. She, a child all by herself, tried to save her mother's life and defend her against a psychopath. In the end she did the only thing she felt she could do. And instead of saying 'well done' and 'good girl,' they locked her up in an asylum."
"It's not that straightforward. I hope you understand that there really is something wrong with Lisbeth," Palmgren said sharply.
"How do you mean?"
"You're aware that she had a lot of trouble when she was growing up and problems in school and all that."
"It's been in every daily paper. And I would have had trouble in school myself if I'd had the childhood she had."
"Her problems go way beyond the problems she had at home. I've read all the psychiatric assessments, and there isn't even a diagnosis. I think we can agree that Lisbeth Salander isn't like normal people. Have you ever played chess with her?"
"No."
"She has a photographic memory."
"I know. I realized that when I was working with her."
"She loves puzzles. One time when she came over for Christmas dinner I enticed her into solving some problems from a Mensa intelligence test. It was the kind where they show you five similar symbols and you have to decide what the sixth one will look like. I'd tried myself and got about half of them right. And I plodded away at it for two evenings. She took one look at the paper and answered every question correctly."
"Lisbeth is a very special girl."
"She has an extremely hard time relating to other people. I thought she had Asperger's syndrome or something like it. If you read the clinical descriptions of patients diagnosed with Asperger's, there are things that seem to fit Lisbeth very well, but there are just as many symptoms that don't apply at all. Mind you, she's not the least bit dangerous to people who leave her in peace and treat her with respect. But she is violent, without a doubt," said Palmgren in a low voice. "If she's provoked or threatened, she can strike back with appalling violence."
Blomkvist nodded.
"The question is, what do we do now?" Palmgren said.
"We find Zalachenko," Blomkvist said.
At that moment Dr. Sivarnandan knocked and came in.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you. But if you're interested in Lisbeth Salander, you might want to turn on the TV and watch the news."
CHAPTER 29
Wednesday, April 6 - Thursday, April 7
Salander was shaking with rage. That morning she had gone to Bjurman's summer cabin in peace and quiet. She hadn't opened her computer since the night before, and during the day she had been too busy to listen to the news. She was half expecting the incident in Stallarholmen to get a mention, but she was completely unprepared for the storm that she now encountered on the TV news.
Miriam Wu was in Soder hospital, attacked and badly wounded by