She stopped him just as they reached the house.
“I was in the process of formulating a theory...We talked about the fact that all this
is a parody of the Bible. It’s true that he took a cat apart, but I suppose it would be
hard to get hold of an ox. But he’s following the basic story. I wonder...” She looked
up at the church again. “And they shall throw the blood round about against the altar
that is the door of the tent of meeting...”
They walked over the bridge to the church. Blomkvist tried the door, but it was
locked. They wandered around for a while, looking at head-stones until they came
to the chapel, which stood a short distance away, down by the water. All of a
sudden Blomkvist opened his eyes wide. It was not a chapel, it was a crypt. Above
the door he could read the name Vanger chiselled into the stone, along with a
verse in Latin, but he could not decipher it.
“‘Slumber to the end of time,’” Salander said behind him.
Blomkvist turned to look at her. She shrugged.
“I happened to see that verse somewhere.”
Blomkvist roared with laughter. She stiffened and at first she looked furious, but
then she relaxed when she realised that he was laughing at the comedy of the
situation.
Blomkvist tried the door. It was locked. He thought for a moment, then told
Salander to sit down and wait for him. He walked over to see Anna Nygren and
knocked. He explained that he wanted to have a closer look at the family crypt, and
he wondered where Henrik might keep the key. Anna looked doubtful, but she
collected the key from his desk.
As soon as they opened the door, they knew that they had been right. The stench
of burned cadaver and charred remains hung heavy in the air. But the cat torturer
had not made a fire. In one corner stood a blowtorch, the kind used by skiers to
melt the wax on their skis. Salander got the camera out of the pocket of her jeans
skirt and took some pictures. Then, gingerly, she picked up the blowtorch.
“This could be evidence. He might have left fingerprints,” she said.
“Oh sure, we can ask the Vanger family to line up and give us their fingerprints.”
Blomkvist smiled. “I would love to watch you get Isabella’s.”