On the following day the search was continued with decreased manpower. Patrols
were sent out to make a second sweep of the particularly rugged terrain, as well as
an area known as “the fortress”—a now-abandoned bunker system that was built
during the Second World War. That day they also searched cubbyholes, wells,
vegetable cellars, outhouses, and attics in the village.
A certain frustration could be read in the official notes when the search was called
off on the third day after the girl’s disappearance. Morell was, of course, not yet
aware of it, but at that moment he had actually reached as far in the investigation
as he would ever get. He was puzzled and struggled to identify the natural next
step or any place where the search ought to be pursued. Harriet Vanger seemed to
have dissolved into thin air, and Henrik Vanger’s years of torment had begun.
CHAPTER 9
Monday, January 6–Wednesday, January 8
Blomkvist kept reading until the small hours and did not get up until late on
Epiphany Day. A navy blue, late-model Volvo was parked outside Vanger’s house.
Even as he reached for the door handle, the door was opened by a man on his way
out. They almost collided. The man seemed to be in a hurry.
“Yes? Can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Henrik Vanger,” Blomkvist said.
The man’s eyes brightened. He smiled and stuck out his hand. “You must be Mikael
Blomkvist, the one who’s going to help Henrik with the family chronicle, right?”
They shook hands. Vanger had apparently begun spreading Blomkvist’s cover
story. The man was overweight—the result, no doubt, of too many years of
negotiating in offices and conference rooms—but Blomkvist noticed at once the
likeness, the similarity between his face and Harriet Vanger’s.
“I’m Martin Vanger,” the man said. “Welcome to Hedestad.”
“Thank you.”