education, and therefore could not get a job. It's possible that she viewed older men as father figures and that financial remuneration for sexual favours was simply a convenient spin-off. In which case I perceive it as neurotic behaviour."
"So you think that a sixteen-year-old girl who has sex is neurotic?"
"You're twisting my words."
"But you do not know whether she ever took money for sexual favours."
"She was never arrested for prostitution."
"And she could hardly be arrested for it since prostitution is not a crime in our country."
"Well, yes, that's right. In her case this has to do with compulsive neurotic behaviour."
"And you did not hesitate to conclude that Lisbeth Salander is mentally ill based on these unverifiable assumptions? When I was sixteen years old, I drank myself silly on half a bottle of vodka which I stole from my father. Do you think that makes me mentally ill?"
"No, of course not."
"If I may be so bold, is it not a fact that when you were seventeen you went to a party and got so drunk that you all went out on the town and smashed the windows around the square in Uppsala? You were arrested by the police, detained until you were sober, and then let off with a fine."
Teleborian looked shocked.
"Is that not a fact, Dr Teleborian?"
"Well, yes. People do so many stupid things when they're seventeen. But - "
"But that doesn't lead you - or anyone else - to believe that you have a serious mental illness?"
Teleborian was angry. That infernal lawyer kept twisting his words and homing in on details. She refused to see the larger picture. And his own childish escapade... How the hell had she got hold of that information?
He cleared his throat and spoke in a raised voice.
"The reports from social services were unequivocal. They confirmed that Lisbeth Salander had a lifestyle that revolved around alcohol, drugs and promiscuity. Social services also said that she was a prostitute."
"No, social services never said that she was a prostitute."
"She was arrested at - "
"No. She was not arrested," Giannini said. "She was searched in Tantolunden at the age of seventeen when she was in the company of a much older man. That same year she was arrested for drunkenness. Also in the company of a much older man. Social services feared that she might be engaged in prostitution. But no evidence was ever presented."
"She had very loose sexual relations with a large number of individuals, both male and female."
"In your own report, you dwell on my client's sexual habits. You claim that her relationship with her friend Miriam Wu confirms the misgivings about a sexual psychopathy. Why does it confirm any such thing?"
Teleborian made no answer.
"I sincerely hope that you are not thinking of claiming that homosexuality is a mental illness," Giannini said. "That might even be an illegal statement."
"No, of course not. I'm alluding to the elements of sexual sadism in the relationship."
"You think that she's a sadist?"
"I - "
"We have Miriam Wu's statement here. There was, it says, no violence in their relationship."
"They engaged in S.&M. sex and - "
"Now I'm beginning to think you've been reading too many evening newspapers. Lisbeth Salander and her friend Miriam Wu engaged in sexual games on some occasions which involved Miriam Wu tying up my client and giving her sexual satisfaction. That is neither especially unusual nor is it against the law. Is that why you want to lock up my client?"
Teleborian waved a hand in a dismissive gesture.
"When I was sixteen and still at school I was intoxicated on a good many occasions. I have tried drugs. I have smoked marijuana, and I even tried cocaine on one occasion about twenty years ago. I had my first sexual experience with a schoolfriend when I was fifteen, and I had a relationship with a boy who tied my hands to the bedstead when I was twenty. When I was twenty-two I had a relationship with a man who was forty-seven that lasted several months. Am I, in your view, mentally ill?"
"Fru Giannini, you joke about this, but your sexual experiences are irrelevant in this case."
"Why is that? When I read your so-called psychiatric assessment of Lisbeth Salander, I find point after point which, taken out of context, would apply to myself. Why am I healthy and sound while Lisbeth Salander is considered a dangerous sadist?"
"These are not the details that are relevant. You didn't twice try to murder your father