"You yourself appear in Lisbeth Salander's account - "
"Yes, and that is rather intriguing. But once again, it's a figment of her imagination. If we are to believe the poor girl, then I'm something approximate to a paedophile..." He smiled and continued. "But this is all just another expression of what I was speaking of before. In Salander's autobiography we are told that she was abused by being placed in restraints for long spells at St Stefan's. And that I came to her room at night... This is a classic manifestation of her inability to interpret reality, or rather, she is giving reality her own interpretation."
"Thank you. I leave it to the defence, if Fru Giannini has any questions."
Since Giannini had not had any questions or objections on the first two days of the trial, those in the courtroom expected that she would once again ask some obligatory questions and then bring the questioning to an end. This really is an embarrassingly deficient effort by the defence, Ekstrom thought.
"Yes, I do," Giannini said. "I do in fact have a number of questions, and they may take some time. It's 11.30 now. May I propose that we break for lunch, and that I be allowed to carry out my cross-examination of the witness after lunch without interval?"
Judge Iversen agreed that the court should adjourn for lunch.
Andersson was accompanied by two uniformed officers when he placed his huge hand on Superintendent Nystrom's shoulder outside the Master Anders restaurant on Hantverkargatan at noon precisely. Nystrom looked up in amazement at the man who was shoving his police I.D. right under his nose.
"Hello. You're under arrest, suspected of being an accessory to murder and attempted murder. The charges will be explained to you by the Prosecutor General at a hearing this afternoon. I suggest that you come along peacefully," he said.
Nystrom did not seem to comprehend the language Andersson was speaking in, but he could see that he was a man you went along with without protest.
Inspector Bublanski was accompanied by Modig and seven uniformed officers when Stefan Bladh of the Constitutional Protection Unit admitted them at noon precisely into the locked section that comprised the domain of the Security Police at Kungsholmen. They walked through the corridors behind Bladh until he stopped and pointed at an office door. The chief of Secretariat's assistant looked up and was utterly perplexed when Bublanski held up his I.D.
"Kindly remain where you are. This is a police action."
He strode to the inner door. Chief of Secretariat Albert was on the telephone.
"What is this interruption?" Shenke said.
"I am Criminal Inspector Jan Bublanski. You are under arrest for violation of the Swedish constitution. There is a long list of specific points in the charge, all of which will be explained to you this afternoon."
"This is outrageous," Shenke said.
"It most certainly is," Bublanski said.
He had Shenke's office sealed and then placed two officers on guard outside the door, with instructions to let no-one cross the threshold. They had permission to use their batons and even draw their service weapons if anyone tried to enter the sealed office by force.
They continued their procession down the corridor until Bladh pointed to another door, and the procedure was repeated with chief of Budget, Gustav Atterbom.
Inspector Holmberg had the Sodermalm armed response team as backup when at exactly noon he knocked on the door of an office rented temporarily on the fourth floor just across the street from Millennium's offices on Gotgatan.
Since no-one opened the door, Holmberg ordered the Sodermalm police to force the lock, but the door was opened a crack before the crowbar was used.
"Police," Holmberg said. "Come out with your hands up."
"I'm a policeman myself," Inspector Mårtensson said.
"I know. And you have licences for a great many guns."
"Yes, well... I'm an officer on assignment."
"I think not," Holmberg said.
He accepted the assistance of his colleagues in propping Mårtensson against the wall so he could confiscate his service weapon.
"You are under arrest for illegal telephone tapping, gross dereliction of duty, repeated break-ins at Mikael Blomkvist's apartment on Bellmansgatan, and additional counts. Handcuff him."
Holmberg took a swift look around the room and saw that there was enough electronic equipment to furnish a recording studio. He detailed an officer to guard the premises, but told him to sit still on a chair so he would not leave any fingerprints.
As Mårtensson was being led through the front door of the building, Cortez took a series of twenty-two photographs with his Nikon. He was,