This was the next critical moment. A path ran inside the fence. He lay stretched out
on the ground, watching. The farmhouse was 400 yards down a gentle slope. To
the right of the house he saw cows grazing. Why hadn’t anyone heard the shots and
come to investigate? Summer. Maybe nobody is at home right now.
There was no question of crossing the pasture—there he would have no cover at
all. The straight path beside the fence was the place he himself would have picked
for a clear field of fire. He retreated into the brush until he came out on the other
side into a sparse pine wood.
He took the long way around Östergården’s fields and Söderberget to reach home.
When he passed Östergården he could see that their car was gone. At the top of
Söderberget he stopped and looked down on Hedeby. In the old fishing cabins by
the marina there were summer visitors; women in bathing suits were sitting talking
on a dock. He smelled something cooking on an outdoor grill. Children were
splashing in the water near the docks in the marina.
Just after 8:00. It was fifty minutes since the shots had been fired. Nilsson was
watering his lawn, wearing shorts and no shirt. How long have you been
there? Vanger’s house was empty but for Anna. Harald Vanger’s house looked
deserted as always. Then he saw Isabella Vanger in her back garden. She was sitting
there, obviously talking to someone. It took a second for Blomkvist to realise it was
the sickly Gerda Vanger, born in 1922 and living with her son, Alexander, in one of
the houses beyond Henrik’s. He had never met her, but he had seen her a few
times. Cecilia Vanger’s house looked empty, but then Mikael saw a movement in
her kitchen. She’s home. Was the marksman a woman? He knew that Cecilia could
handle a gun. He could see Martin Vanger’s car in the drive in front of his
house. How long have you been home?
Or was it someone else that he had not thought of yet? Frode? Alexander? Too
many possibilities.
He climbed down from Söderberget and followed the road into the village; he got
home without encountering anyone. The first thing he saw was that the door of the