In the middle of January Blomkvist asked his lawyer to find out when he was going
to be expected to serve his three months in prison. He was anxious to take care of
the matter as quickly as possible. Getting into prison turned out to be easier than
he had expected. After a very few weeks of discussion, it was decreed that
Blomkvist present himself on March 17 at the Rullåker Prison outside Östersund, a
minimum-security prison. The lawyer advised him that the sentence would very
likely be shortened.
“Fine,” Blomkvist said, without much enthusiasm.
He sat at the kitchen table and petted the cat, who now arrived every few days to
spend the night with Blomkvist. From the Nilssons he had learned that the cat’s
name was Tjorven. It did not belong to anyone in particular, it just made the rounds
of all the houses.
Blomkvist met his employer almost every afternoon. Sometimes they would have a
brief conversation; sometimes they would sit together for hours.
The conversation often consisted of Blomkvist putting up a theory that Vanger
would then shoot down. Blomkvist tried to maintain a certain distance from his
assignment, but there were moments when he found himself hopelessly fascinated
by the enigma of the girl’s disappearance.
Blomkvist had assured Berger that he would also formulate a strategy for taking up
the battle with Wennerström, but after a month in Hedestad he had not yet
opened the files which had brought him to the dock in the district court. On the
contrary, he had deliberately pushed the matter aside because every time he
thought about Wennerström and his own situation, he would sink into depression
and listlessness. He wondered whether he was going crazy like the old man. His
professional reputation had imploded, and his means of recovering was to hide
himself away in a tiny town in the deep country, chasing ghosts.
Vanger could tell that Blomkvist was on some days a bit off balance. By the end of
January, the old man made a decision that surprised even himself. He picked up the
telephone and called Stockholm. The conversation lasted twenty minutes and
dealt largely with Mikael Blomkvist.