1966—LENA ANDERSSON, Uppsala (30112)
“The first case in this series is Rebecka Jacobsson, 1949, the details of which you
already know. The next case I found was Mari Holmberg, a thirty-two-year-old
prostitute in Kalmar who was murdered in her apartment in October 1954. It’s not
clear exactly when she was killed, since her body wasn’t found right away, probably
nine or ten days later.”
“And how do you connect her to Harriet’s list?”
“She was tied up and badly abused, but the cause of death was strangulation. She
had a sanitary towel down her throat.”
Blomkvist sat in silence for a moment before he looked up the verse that was
Leviticus 20:18.
“If a man lies with a woman having her sickness, and uncovers her nakedness, he has
made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood; both of
them shall be cut off from among their people.”
Salander nodded.
“Harriet Vanger made the same connection. OK. Next?”
“May 1957, Rakel Lunde, forty-five. She worked as a cleaning woman and was a bit
of a happy eccentric in the village. She was a fortune-teller and her hobby was
doing Tarot readings, palms, et cetera. She lived outside Landskrona in a house a
long way from anywhere, and she was murdered there some time early in the
morning. She was found naked and tied to a laundry-drying frame in her back
garden, with her mouth taped shut. Cause of death was a heavy rock being
repeatedly thrown at her. She had countless contusions and fractures.”
“Jesus Christ. Lisbeth, this is fucking disgusting.”
“It gets worse. The initials R.L. are correct—you found the Bible quote?”
“Overly explicit. A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death;
they shall be stoned with stones, their blood shall be upon them.”