Frustrated, Modig took out her mobile and called Bjurman's answering machine once again. She gave her name, left her number, and asked him to please contact her as soon as he could.
She went back to Bjurman's door and wrote him a note asking him to call her. She got out a business card and dropped that through the mail slot as well. Just as she closed the flap, she heard a telephone ring inside the apartment. She leaned down and listened intently as it rang four times. She heard the answering machine click on, but she could not hear any message.
She closed the flap on the mail slot and stared at the door. Exactly what impulse made her reach out and touch the handle she could not have said, but to her great surprise the door was unlocked. She pushed it open and peered into the hall.
"Hello!" she called cautiously and listened. There was no sound.
She took a step into the hall and then hesitated. She had no warrant to search the premises and no right to be in the apartment, even if the door was unlocked. She looked to her left and got a glimpse of the living room. She had just decided to back out of the apartment when her glance fell on the hall table. She saw a box for a Colt Magnum pistol.
Modig suddenly had a strong sense of unease. She opened her jacket and drew her service weapon, which she had rarely done before.
She clicked off the safety catch and aimed the gun at the floor as she went to the living room and looked in. She saw nothing untoward, but her apprehension increased. She backed out and peered into the kitchen. Empty. She went down the corridor and pushed open the bedroom door.
Bjurman's naked body lay half stretched out on the bed. His knees were on the floor. It was as though he had knelt to say his prayers.
Even from the door Modig could tell that he was dead. Half of his forehead had been blown away by a shot to the back of his head.
Modig closed the apartment door behind her. She still had her service revolver in her hand as she flipped open her mobile and called Inspector Bublanski. She could not reach him. Next she called Prosecutor Ekstrom. She made a note of the time. It was 4:18.
Faste looked at the entrance door to the building on Lundagatan. He looked at Andersson and then at his watch. 4:10.
After obtaining the entry code from the caretaker, they had already been inside the building and listened at the door with the nameplate SALANDER-WU. They had heard no sound from the apartment, and nobody had answered the bell. They returned to their car and parked where they could keep watch on the door.
From the car they had ascertained by phone that the person in Stockholm whose name had been recently added to the contract for the apartment on Lundagatan was Miriam Wu, born in 1974 and previously living at St.Eriksplan.
They had a passport photograph of Salander taped above the car radio. Faste muttered out loud that she looked like a bitch.
"Shit, the whores are looking worse all the time. You'd have to be pretty desperate to pick her up."
Andersson kept his mouth shut.
At 4:20 they were called by Bublanski, who told them he was on his way from Armansky's to the Millennium offices. He asked Faste and Andersson to maintain their watch at Lundagatan. Salander would have to be brought in for questioning, but they should be aware that the prosecutor did not think she could be linked to the killings in Enskede.
"All right," Faste said. "According to Bubble the prosecutor wants to have a confession before they arrest anybody."
Andersson said nothing. Listlessly they watched people moving through the neighbourhood.
At 4:40, Prosecutor Ekstrom called Faste's mobile.
"Things are happening. We found Bjurman shot in his apartment. He's been dead for at least twenty-four hours."
Faste sat up in his seat. "Got it. What should we do?"
"I'm going to issue an alert on Salander. She's being sought as a suspect in three murders. We'll send it out county-wide. We have to consider her dangerous and very possibly armed."
"Got it."
"I'm sending a van to Lundagatan. They'll go in and secure the apartment."
"Understood."
"Have you been in touch with Bublanski?"
"He's at Millennium."
"And seems to have turned off his phone. Could you try to reach him and let him know?"