not seen her. The woman turned the corner at McDonald's and Figuerola hurried after her, but when she got to the corner, the woman had vanished without a trace. Figuerola stopped short in consternation. Shit. She walked slowly past the entrances to the buildings. Then she caught sight of a brass plate that read Milton Security.
Figuerola walked back to Bellmansgatan.
She drove to Gotgatan where the offices of Millennium were and spent the next half hour walking around the streets in the area. She did not see Mårtensson's car. At lunchtime she returned to police headquarters in Kungsholmen and spent two hours thinking as she pumped iron in the gym.
"We've got a problem," Cortez said.
Eriksson and Blomkvist looked up from the typescript of the book about the Zalachenko case. It was 1.30 in the afternoon.
"Take a seat," Eriksson said.
"It's about Vitavara Inc., the company that makes the 1700 kronor toilets in Vietnam."
"Alright. What's the problem?" Blomkvist said.
"Vitavara Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Svea Construction Inc."
"I see. That's a very large firm."
"Yes, it is. The chairman of the board is Magnus Borgsjo, a professional board member. He's also the chairman of the board of Svenska Morgon-Posten and owns about 10 per cent of it."
Blomkvist gave Cortez a sharp look. "Are you sure?"
"Yep. Berger's boss is a bloody crook, a man who exploits child labour in Vietnam."
Assistant Editor Fredriksson looked to be in a bad mood as he knocked on the door of Berger's glass cage at 2.00 in the afternoon.
"What is it?"
"Well, this is a little embarrassing, but somebody in the newsroom got an email from you."
"From me? So? What does it say?
He handed her some printouts of emails addressed to Eva Carlsson, a 26-year-old temp on the culture pages. According to the headers the sender was [email protected]›:
Darling Eva. I want to caress you and kiss your breasts. I'm hot with excitement and can't control myself. I beg you to reciprocate my feelings. Could we meet? Erika
And then two emails on the following days:
Dearest, darling Eva. I beg you not to reject me. I'm crazy with desire. I want to have you naked. I have to have you. I'm going to make you so happy. You'll never regret it. I'm going to kiss every inch of your naked skin, your lovely breasts, and your delicious grotto. Erika
Eva. Why don't you reply? Don't be afraid of me. Don't push me away. You're no innocent. You know what it's all about. I want to have sex with you and I'm going to reward you handsomely. If you're nice to me then I'll be nice to you. You've asked for an extension of your temporary job. I have the power to extend it and even make it a full-time position. Let's meet tonight at 9.00 by my car in the garage. Your Erika
"Alright," Berger said. "And now she's wondering if it was me that wrote to her, is that it?"
"Not exactly... I mean... geez."
"Peter, please speak up."
"She sort of halfway believed the first email although she was quite surprised by it. But then she realized that this isn't exactly your style and then..."
"Then?"
"Well, she thinks it's embarrassing and doesn't quite know what to do. Part of it is probably that she's very impressed by you and likes you a lot... as a boss, I mean. So she came to me and asked for my advice."
"And what did you tell her?"
"I said that someone had faked your address and is obviously harassing her. Or possibly both of you. And I said I'd talk to you about it."
"Thank you. Could you please ask her to come to my office in ten minutes?"
In the meantime Berger composed her own email.
It has come to my attention that an employee of S.M.P. has received a number of emails that appear to come from me. The emails contain vulgar sexual innuendos. I have also received similar emails from a sender who purports to be "centraled" at S.M.P. No such address exists.
I have consulted the head of the I.T. department, who informs me that it is very easy to fake a sender's address. I don't understand how it's done, but there are sites on the Internet where such things can be arranged. I have to draw the conclusion that some sick individual is doing this.
I want to know if any other colleagues have received strange emails. If so, I would like them to inform Fredriksson of this immediately. If these very unpleasant pranks continue we will have to consider reporting