The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

by Stieg Larsson

  "I cannot--"

  "The result, excuse me, was a situation in which society abandoned Lisbeth's mother and her two children. Are you surprised that Lisbeth had problems at school? Look at her. She's small and skinny. She has always been the smallest girl in her class. She was introverted and eccentric, and she had no friends. Do you know how children tend to treat fellow students who are different?"

  Teleborian sighed.

  Giannini continued. "I can go back to her school records and examine one situation after another in which Lisbeth turned violent. The incidents were always preceded by some kind of provocation. I can easily recognize the signs of bullying. Let me tell you something."

  "What?"

  "I admire Lisbeth Salander. She's tougher than I am. If I had been strapped down for a year when I was thirteen, I would probably have broken down altogether. She fought back with the only weapon she had available--her contempt for you."

  Her nervousness was long gone. She felt that she was in control.

  "In your testimony this morning you spoke a great deal about fantasies. You stated, for instance, that Lisbeth Salander's account of her rape by Advokat Bjurman is a fantasy."

  "That's correct."

  "On what do you base your conclusion?"

  "On my experience of the way she usually fantasizes."

  "On your experience of the way she usually fantasizes? How do you decide when she is fantasizing? When she says that she was strapped to a bed for 380 days and nights, in your opinion it's a fantasy, despite the fact that your very own records tell us that this was indeed the case."

  "This is something entirely different. There is not a shred of evidence that Bjurman committed rape against Lisbeth Salander. I mean, needles through her nipples and such gross violence that she unquestionably should have been taken by ambulance to the hospital? It's obvious that this could not have taken place."

  Giannini turned to Judge Iversen. "I asked to have a projector available today . . ."

  "It's in place," the judge said.

  "Could we close the curtains, please?"

  Giannini opened her PowerBook and plugged in the cables to the projector. She turned to her client.

  "Lisbeth. We're going to look at the film. Are you ready for this?"

  "I lived through it," Salander said dryly.

  "And I have your approval to show it here?"

  Salander nodded. She fixed her eyes on Teleborian.

  "Can you tell us when the film was made?"

  "On March 7, 2003."

  "Who shot the film?"

  "I did. I used a hidden camera, standard equipment at Milton Security."

  "Just one moment," Prosecutor Ekstrom shouted. "This is beginning to resemble a circus act."

  "What is it we are about to see?" Judge Iversen said with a sharp edge to his voice.

  "Dr. Teleborian claims that Lisbeth Salander's account of her rape by Advokat Bjurman is a fantasy. I am going to show you evidence to the contrary. The film is ninety minutes long, but I will show only a few short excerpts. I warn you that it contains some very unpleasant scenes."

  "Is this some sort of trick?" Ekstrom said.

  "There's a good way to find out," said Giannini and started the DVD in her laptop.

  "Haven't you even learned to tell the time?" Advokat Bjurman greets Salander gruffly. The camera enters his apartment.

  After nine minutes Judge Iversen banged his gavel. Advokat Bjurman was being shown violently shoving a dildo into Lisbeth Salander's anus. Giannini had turned up the volume. Salander's half-stifled screams through the duct tape that covered her mouth were heard throughout the courtroom.

  "Turn off the film," Judge Iversen said in a very loud and commanding voice.

  Giannini pressed Stop, and the ceiling lights were turned back on. Judge Iversen was red in the face. Prosecutor Ekstrom sat as if turned to stone. Teleborian was as pale as a corpse.

  "Advokat Giannini, how long is this film, did you say?"

  "Ninety minutes. The rape itself went on in stages for about five or six hours, but my client has only a vague sense of the violence inflicted upon her in the last few hours." Giannini turned to Teleborian. "There is a scene, however, in which Bjurman pushes a needle through my client's nipple, something that Doctor Teleborian maintains is an expression of Lisbeth Salander's wild imagination. It takes place in minute seventy-two, and I'm offering to show the episode here and now."

  "Thank you, that won't be necessary," the judge said. "Froken Salander . . ."

  For a second he lost his train of thought and did not know how to proceed.

  "Froken Salander, why did you record this film?"

  "Bjurman had already subjected me to one rape and was demanding more. The first time, he made me blow him, the old creep. I thought it was going to be a repeat. I thought I'd be able to get such good evidence of what he did that I could then blackmail him into staying away from me. I misjudged him."

  "But why did you not go to the police when you have such . . . irrefutable evidence?"

  "I don't talk to policemen," Salander said flatly.

  Palmgren stood up from his wheelchair. He supported himself by leaning on the edge of the table. His voice was very clear.

  "Our client on principle does not speak to the police or to other persons of authority, and least of all to psychiatrists. The reason is simple. From the time she was a child she tried time and again to talk to police and social workers to explain that her mother was being abused by Alexander Zalachenko. The result in every instance was that she was punished because government civil servants had decided that Zalachenko was more important than she was."

  He cleared his throat and continued.

  "And when she eventually concluded that nobody was listening to her, her only means of protecting her mother was to fight Zalachenko with violence. And then this bastard who calls himself a doctor"--he pointed at Teleborian--"wrote a fabricated psychiatric diagnosis which described her as mentally ill, and it gave him the opportunity to keep her in restraints at St. Stefan's for 380 days. What a bastard."

  Palmgren sat down. Judge Iversen was surprised by this outburst. He turned to Salander.

  "Would you perhaps like to take a break . . . ?"

  "Why?" Salander said.

  "All right, then we'll continue. Advokat Giannini, the recording will be examined, and I will require a technical opinion to verify its authenticity. But I cannot tolerate seeing any more of these appalling scenes at present. Let's proceed."

  "Gladly. I too find them appalling," said Giannini. "My client has been subjected to multiple instances of physical and mental abuse and legal misconduct. And the person most to blame for this is Dr. Peter Teleborian. He betrayed his oath as a physician, and he betrayed his patient. Together with a member of an illegal group within the Security Police, Gunnar Bjorck, he patched together a forensic psychiatric assessment for the purpose of locking up an inconvenient witness. I believe that this case must be unique in Swedish jurisprudence."

  "These are outrageous accusations," Teleborian said. "I have done my best to help Lisbeth Salander. She tried to murder her father. It's perfectly obvious that there's something wrong with her--"

  Giannini interrupted him.

  "I would now like to bring to the attention of the court Dr. Teleborian's second forensic psychiatric assessment of my client, presented at this trial today. I maintain that it is a lie, just as the report from 1991 was a lie."

  "Well, this is simply--" Teleborian spluttered.

  "Judge Iversen, could you please ask the witness to stop interrupting me?"

  "Herr Teleborian . . ."

  "I will be quiet. But these are outrageous accusations. It's not surprising that I'm upset--"

  "Herr Teleborian, please be quiet until a question is directed to you. Go on, Advokat Giannini."

  "This is the forensic psychiatric assessment that Dr. Teleborian has presented to the court. It is based on what he has termed 'observations' of my client which
were supposed to have taken place after she was moved to Kronoberg prison on June 5. The examination was supposed to have been concluded on July 5."

  "Yes, so I have understood," Judge Iversen said.

  "Dr. Teleborian, is it the case that you did not have the opportunity to examine or observe my client before June 6? Before that she was at Sahlgrenska hospital in Goteborg, where she was being kept in isolation, as we know."

  "Yes."

  "You made attempts on two separate occasions to gain access to my client at Sahlgrenska. Both times you were denied admittance."

  Giannini opened her briefcase and took out a document. She walked around her table and handed it to Judge Iversen.

  "I see," the judge said. "This appears to be a copy of Dr. Teleborian's report. What is your point?"

  "I would like to call two witnesses. They are waiting outside the courtroom now."

  "Who are these witnesses?"

  "They are Mikael Blomkvist from Millennium magazine and Superintendent Torsten Edklinth, director of the Constitutional Protection Unit of the Security Police."

  "And they are outside?"

  "Yes."

  "Show them in," Judge Iversen said.

  "This is highly irregular," Prosecutor Ekstrom said.

  Ekstrom had watched in extreme discomfort as Giannini shredded his key witness. The film was devastating evidence. The judge ignored Ekstrom and gestured to the bailiff to open the door to admit Blomkvist and Edklinth.

  "I would first like to call Mikael Blomkvist."

  "Then I would ask that Herr Teleborian stand down for a while," Judge Iversen said.

  "Are you finished with me?" Teleborian said.

  "No, not by any means," Giannini said.

  Blomkvist replaced Teleborian in the witness box. Judge Iversen swiftly dealt with the formalities, and Blomkvist took the oath.

  "Mikael," Giannini said, and then she smiled. "I would find it difficult, if your honour will forgive me, to call my brother Herr Blomkvist, so I will settle for his first name."

  She went to Judge Iversen's bench and asked for the forensic psychiatric report which she had just handed to him. She then gave it to Blomkvist.

  "Have you seen this document before?"

  "Yes, I have. I have three versions in my possession. The first I acquired on May 12, the second on May 19, and the third--this one--on June 3."

  "Can you tell us how you acquired the copies?"

  "I received them in my capacity as a journalist from a source I do not intend to name."

  Salander stared at Teleborian. He was once more deathly pale.

  "What did you do with the report?"

  "I gave it to Torsten Edklinth at Constitutional Protection."

  "Thank you, Mikael. Now I'd like to call Torsten Edklinth," Giannini said, taking back the report. She handed it to Judge Iversen, and the procedure with the oath was repeated.

  "Superintendent Edklinth, is it correct that you received a forensic psychiatric report on Lisbeth Salander from Mikael Blomkvist?"

  "Yes, it is."

  "When did you receive it?"

  "It was logged in at SIS on June 4."

  "And this is the same report I have just handed to Judge Iversen?"

  "If my signature is on the back, then it's the same one."

  The judge turned over the document and saw Edklinth's signature there.

  "Superintendent Edklinth, could you explain how you happened to have a forensic psychiatric report in your possession which claims to have analysed a patient who was still in isolation at Sahlgrenska?"

  "Yes, I can. Dr. Teleborian's report is a sham. It was put together with the help of a person by the name of Jonas Sandberg, just as he produced a similar document in 1991 with Gunnar Bjorck."

  "That's a lie," Teleborian said in a weak voice.

  "Is it a lie?" Giannini said.

  "No, not at all," Edklinth said. "I should perhaps mention that Jonas Sandberg is one of a dozen or so individuals who were arrested today by order of the prosecutor general. Sandberg is being held as an accomplice to the murder of Gunnar Bjorck. He is part of a criminal unit operating within the Security Police which has been protecting Alexander Zalachenko since the seventies. This same group of officers was responsible for the decision to lock up Lisbeth Salander in 1991. We have incontrovertible evidence, as well as a confession from the unit's director."

  The courtroom was hushed, transfixed.

  "Would Dr. Teleborian like to comment on what has just been said?" Judge Iversen asked.

  Teleborian shook his head.

  "In that case it is my duty to tell you that you risk being charged with perjury and possibly other counts in addition," Judge Iversen said.

  "If you'll excuse me, your honour," Blomkvist said.

  "Yes?"

  "Dr. Teleborian has bigger problems than this. Outside the courtroom are two police officers who would like to bring him in for questioning."

  "I see," the judge said. "Is it a matter which concerns this court?"

  "I believe it is, your honour."

  Judge Iversen gestured to the bailiff, who admitted Inspector Modig and a woman Prosecutor Ekstrom did not immediately recognize. Her name was Lisa Collsjo, and she was a criminal inspector for the special investigations division, the unit within the National Police Board responsible for investigating cases of child pornography and sexual assault on children.

  "And what is your business here?" Judge Iversen said.

  "We are here to arrest Peter Teleborian with your permission, and without wishing to disturb the court's proceedings."

  Judge Iversen looked at Advokat Giannini.

  "I'm not quite finished with him . . . but the court may have heard enough of Dr. Teleborian."

  "You have my permission," Judge Iversen said to the police officers.

  Collsjo walked across to Teleborian. "Peter Teleborian, you are under arrest for violation of the law on child pornography."

  Teleborian sat still, hardly breathing. Giannini saw that all the light in his eyes seemed to have been extinguished.

  "Specifically, for possession of approximately nine thousand pornographic photographs of children found on your computer."

  She bent down to pick up his laptop, which he had brought with him.

  "This is confiscated as evidence," she said.

  As he was being led from the courtroom, Salander's blazing eyes bored into Teleborian's back.

  CHAPTER 28

  Friday, July 15-Saturday, July 16

  Judge Iversen tapped his pen on the edge of his table to quell the murmuring that had arisen in the wake of Teleborian's departure. He seemed unsure how to proceed. Then he turned to Prosecutor Ekstrom.

  "Do you have any comment to make to the court on what has been seen and heard in the past hour?"

  Ekstrom stood up and looked at Judge Iversen and then at Edklinth before he turned his head and met Salander's unwavering gaze. He understood that the battle was lost. He glanced over at Blomkvist and realized with sudden terror that he too risked being exposed to Millennium's investigators . . . which could ruin his career.

  He was at a loss to comprehend how this had happened. He had come to the trial convinced that he knew everything about the case.

  He had understood the delicate balance sought by national security after his many candid talks with Superintendent Nystrom. It had been explained to him that the Salander report from 1991 had been fabricated. He had received the inside information he needed. He had asked questions--hundreds of questions--and received answers to all of them. A deception in the national interest. And now Nystrom had been arrested, according to Edklinth. He had believed in Teleborian, who had, after all, seemed so . . . so competent. So convincing.

  Good Lord. What sort of a mess have I landed in?

  And then, How the hell am I going to get out of it?

  He stroked his goatee. He cleared his throat. Slowly he removed his glasses.

  "I regret to say that it seems I ha
ve been misinformed on a number of essential points in this investigation."

  He wondered if he could shift the blame onto the police investigators. Then he had a vision of Inspector Bublanski. Bublanski would never back him up. If Ekstrom made one wrong move, Bublanski would call a press conference and sink him.

  Ekstrom met Salander's gaze. She was sitting there patiently, and in her eyes he read both curiosity and vengeance.

  No compromises.

  He could still get her convicted of aggravated assault in Stallarholmen. And he could probably get her convicted for the aggravated assault and attempted murder of her father in Gosseberga. That would mean changing his strategy immediately; he would drop everything that had anything to do with Teleborian. All claims that she was a psychopath had to go, but that meant that her story would be strengthened all the way back to 1991. The whole declaration of incompetence was bogus, and with that . . .

  Plus she has that blasted film . . .

  Then it struck him.

  Good God. She's a victim, pure and simple.

  "Judge Iversen, I believe I can no longer rely on the documents I have here in my hand."

  "I suppose not," Judge Iversen said.

  "I'm going to have to ask for a recess, or that the trial be suspended until I am able to make certain adjustments to my case."

  "Advokat Giannini?" the judge said.

  "I request that my client be at once acquitted on all counts and be released immediately. I also request that the district court take a definite position on the question of Froken Salander's declaration of incompetence. Moreover, I believe that she should be adequately compensated for the violations of her rights that have occurred."

  Lisbeth Salander turned towards Judge Iversen.

  No compromises.

  Judge Iversen looked at Salander's autobiography. He then looked over at Prosecutor Ekstrom.

  "I too believe we would be wise to investigate exactly what has happened that brings us to this sorry pass. I fear that you are probably not the right person to conduct that investigation. In all my years as a jurist and judge, I have never been party to anything even approaching the legal dilemma in this case. I confess that I am at a loss for words. I have never even heard of a case in which the prosecutor's chief witness is arrested during a court in session, or of a convincing argument turning out to be an utter fabrication. I honestly do not see what is left of the prosecutor's case."