it is connected to any known crime in Sweden. If it is, that will put the matter in a rather different light."
Spångberg raised her pen.
"Agneta... it's up to you to decide whether you want to initiate a preliminary investigation against Blomkvist. But I advise that you wait for the report from forensics. So let's move on. This character Zalachenko... what can our colleagues from Stockholm tell us about him?"
"The truth is," Modig said, "that until yesterday afternoon we had never heard of either Zalachenko or Niedermann."
"I thought you were busy looking for a lesbian Satanist gang in Stockholm. Was I wrong?" one of the Goteborg policemen said. His colleagues all frowned. Holmberg was studying his fingernails. Modig had to take the question.
"Within these four walls, I can tell you that we have our equivalent of Inspector Paulsson, and all that stuff about a lesbian Satanist gang is probably a smokescreen originating mainly from him."
Modig and Holmberg then described in detail the investigation as it had developed. When they had finished there was a long silence around the table.
"If all this about Gunnar Bjorck is true and it comes out, Sapo's ears are going to be burning," the assistant chief of the Violent Crimes Division concluded.
Jervas raised her hand. "It sounds to me as though your suspicions are for the most part based on assumptions and circumstantial evidence. As a prosecutor I would be uneasy about the lack of unassailable evidence."
"We're aware of that," Holmberg said. "We think we know what happened in broad outline, but there are questions that still have to be answered."
"I gather you're still busy with excavations in Nykvarn," Spångberg said. "How many killings do you reckon this case involves?"
Holmberg rubbed his eyes wearily. "We started with two, then three murders in Stockholm. Those are the ones that prompted the hunt for Salander: the deaths of Advokat Bjurman, the journalist Dag Svensson, and Mia Johansson, an academic. In the area around the warehouse in Nykvarn we have so far found three graves, well, three bodies. We've identified a known dealer and petty thief who was found dismembered in one trench. We found a woman's body in a second trench - she's still unidentified. And we haven't dug up the third yet. It appears to be older than the others. Furthermore, Blomkvist has made a connection to the murder several months ago of a prostitute in Sodertalje."
"So, with Gunnar Ingemarsson dead in Gosseberga, we're talking about at least eight murders. That's a horrendous statistic. Do we suspect this Niedermann of all of them? If so, he has to be treated as a madman, a mass murderer."
Modig and Holmberg exchanged glances. It was now a matter of how far they wanted to align themselves with such assertions. Finally Modig spoke up.
"Even though crucial evidence is lacking, my superior, Inspector Bublanski, and I are tending towards the belief that Blomkvist is correct in claiming that the first three murders were committed by Niedermann. That would require us to believe that Salander is innocent. With respect to the graves in Nykvarn, Niedermann is linked to the site through the kidnapping of Salander's friend Miriam Wu. There is a strong likelihood that she too would have been his victim. But the warehouse is owned by a relative of the president of Svavelsjo Motorcycle Club, and until we're able to identify the remains, we won't be able to draw any conclusions."
"That petty thief you identified..."
"Kenneth Gustafsson, forty-four, dealer, and delinquent in his youth. Offhand I would guess it's to do with an internal shake-up of some sort. Svavelsjo M.C. is mixed up in several kinds of criminal activity, including the distribution of methamphetamine. Nykvarn may be a cemetery in the woods for people who crossed them, but..."
"Yes?"
"This young prostitute who was murdered in Sodertalje... her name is Irina Petrova. The autopsy revealed that she died as a result of a staggeringly vicious assault. She looked as if she had been beaten to death. But the actual cause of her injuries could not be established. Blomkvist made a pretty acute observation. Petrova had injuries that could very well have been inflicted by a man's bare hands..."
"Niedermann?"
"It's a reasonable assumption. But there's no proof yet."
"So how do we proceed?" Spångberg wondered.
"I have to confer with Bublanski," Modig said. "But a logical step would be to interrogate Zalachenko. We're interested in hearing what he has to say about the murders in Stockholm, and for you it's a matter of finding out what was Niedermann's