By 1.00 on Saturday afternoon, Prosecutor Fransson in Sodertalje had finished her deliberations. The burial ground in the woods in Nykvarn was a wretched mess, and the Violent Crimes Division had racked up a vast amount of overtime since Wednesday, when Paolo Roberto had fought his boxing match with Niedermann in the warehouse there. They were dealing with at least three murders with the bodies found buried on the property, along with the kidnapping and assault of Salander's friend Miriam Wu, and on top of it all, arson.
The incident in Stallarholmen was connected with the discoveries at Nykvarn, and was actually located within the Strangnas police district in Sodermanland county. Carl-Magnus Lundin of the Svavelsjo Motorcycle Club was a key player in the whole thing, but he was in hospital in Sodertalje with one foot in a cast and his jaw wired shut. Accordingly, all of these crimes came under county police jurisdiction, which meant that Stockholm would have the last word.
On Friday the court hearing was held. Lundin was formally charged in connection with Nykvarn. It had eventually been established that the warehouse was owned by the Medimport Company, which in turn was owned by one Anneli Karlsson, a 52-year-old cousin of Lundin who lived in Puerto Banus, Spain. She had no criminal record.
Fransson closed the folder that held all the preliminary investigation papers. These were still in the early stages and there would need to be another hundred pages of detailed work before they were ready to go to trial. But right now she had to make decisions on several matters. She looked up at her police colleagues.
"We have enough evidence to charge Lundin with participating in the kidnapping of Miriam Wu. Paolo Roberto has identified him as the man who drove the van. I'm also going to charge him with probable involvement in arson. We'll hold back on charging him with the murders of the three individuals we dug up on the property, at least until each of them has been identified."
The officers nodded. That was what they had been expecting.
"What'll we do about Sonny Nieminen?"
Fransson leafed through to the section on Nieminen in the papers on her desk.
"This is a man with an impressive criminal history. Robbery, possession of illegal weapons, assault, G.B.H., manslaughter and drug crime. He was arrested with Lundin at Stallarholmen. I'm convinced that he's involved, but we don't have the evidence to persuade a court."
"He says he's never been to the Nykvarn warehouse and that he just happened to be out with Lundin on a motorcycle ride," said the detective responsible for Stallarholmen on behalf of the Sodertalje police. "He claims he had no idea what Lundin was up to in Stallarholmen."
Fransson wondered whether she could somehow arrange to hand the entire business over to Prosecutor Ekstrom in Stockholm.
"Nieminen refuses to say anything about what happened," the detective went on, "but he vehemently denies being involved in any crime."
"You'd think he and Lundin were themselves the victims of a crime in Stallarholmen," Fransson said, drumming her fingertips in annoyance. "Lisbeth Salander," she added, her voice scored with scepticism. "We're talking about a girl who looks as if she's barely entered puberty and who's only one metre fifty tall. She doesn't look as though she has the tonnage to take on either Nieminen or Lundin, let alone both of them."
"Unless she was armed. A pistol would compensate for her physique."
"But that doesn't quite fit with our reconstruction of what happened."
"No. She used Mace and kicked Lundin in the balls and face with such aggression that she crushed one of his testicles and then broke his jaw. The shot in Lundin's foot must have happened after she kicked him. But I can't swallow the scenario that says she was the one who was armed."
"The lab has identified the weapon used on Lundin. It's a Polish P-83 Wanad using Makarova ammo. It was found in Gosseberga outside Goteborg and it has Salander's prints on it. We can pretty much assume that she took the pistol with her to Gosseberga."
"Sure. But the serial number shows that the pistol was stolen four years ago in the robbery of a gun shop in orebro. The thieves were eventually caught, but they had ditched the gun. It was a local thug with a drug problem who hung out around Svavelsjo M.C. I'd much rather place the pistol with either Lundin or Nieminen."