Judge Iversen. Some cases are so complicated that these younger lawyers need a little assistance."
"I thought you had retired."
"I've been ill. But Advokat Giannini engaged me as assistant counsel in this case."
"I see."
Giannini cleared her throat.
"It is germane to the case that Advokat Palmgren was until his illness Lisbeth Salander's guardian."
"I have no intention of commenting on that matter," Judge Iversen said.
He nodded to Giannini to begin and she stood up. She had always disliked the Swedish tradition of carrying on court proceedings informally while sitting around a table, almost as though the occasion were a dinner party. She felt better when she could speak standing up.
"I think we should begin with the concluding comments from this morning. Dr Teleborian, what leads you so consistently to dismiss as untrue everything that Lisbeth Salander says?"
"Because her statements so obviously are untrue," replied Teleborian.
He was relaxed. Giannini turned to the judge.
"Judge Iverson, Dr Teleborian claims that Lisbeth Salander tells lies and that she fantasizes. The defence will now demonstrate that every word in her autobiography is true. We will present copious documentation, both visual and written, as well as the testimony of witnesses. We have now reached the point in this trial when the prosecutor has presented the principal elements of his case... We have listened and we now know the exact nature of the accusations against Lisbeth Salander."
Giannini's mouth was suddenly dry and she felt her hands shake. She took a deep breath and sipped her mineral water. Then she placed her hands in a firm grip on the back of the chair so that they would not betray her nervousness.
"From the prosecutor's presentation we may conclude that he has a great many opinions but a woeful shortage of evidence. He believes that Lisbeth Salander shot Carl-Magnus Lundin in Stallarholmen. He claims that she went to Gosseberga to kill her father. He assumes that my client is a paranoid schizophrenic and mentally ill in every sense. And he bases this assumption on information from a single source, to wit, Dr Peter Teleborian."
She paused to catch her breath and forced herself to speak slowly.
"As it now stands, the case presented by the prosecutor rests on the testimony of Dr Teleborian. If he is right, then my client would be best served by receiving the expert psychiatric care that both he and the prosecutor are seeking."
Pause.
"But if Dr Teleborian is wrong, this prosecution case must be seen in a different light. Furthermore, if he is lying, then my client is now, here in this courtroom, being subjected to a violation of her civil rights, a violation that has gone on for many years."
She turned to face Ekstrom.
"What we shall do this afternoon is to show that your witness is a false witness, and that you as prosecutor have been deceived into accepting these false testimonies."
Teleborian flashed a smile. He held out his hands and nodded to Giannini, as if applauding her presentation. Giannini now turned to the judge.
"Your honour. I will show that Dr Teleborian's so-called forensic psychiatric investigation is nothing but a deception from start to finish. I will show that he is lying about Lisbeth Salander. I will show that my client has in the past been subjected to a gross violation of her rights. And I will show that she is just as sane and intelligent as anyone in this room."
"Excuse me, but - " Ekstrom began.
"Just a moment." She raised a finger. "I have for two days allowed you to talk uninterrupted. Now it's my turn."
She turned back to Judge Iversen.
"I would not make so serious an accusation before the court if I did not have ample evidence to support it."
"By all means, continue," the judge said. "But I don't want to hear any long-winded conspiracy theories. Bear in mind that you can be charged with slander for statements that are made before a court."
"Thank you. I will bear that in mind."
She turned to Teleborian. He still seemed entertained by the situation.
"The defence has repeatedly asked to be allowed to examine Lisbeth Salander's medical records from the time when she, in her early teens, was committed to your care at St Stefan's. Why have we not been shown those records?"
"Because a district court decreed that they were classified. That decision was made out of solicitude for Lisbeth Salander, but if a higher court were to rescind that decision, I would naturally hand them over."
"Thank you. For how many nights during the two years that Lisbeth Salander spent at