As she said this, Blomkvist fell asleep, as suddenly as if he had fainted.
CHAPTER 25
Saturday, July 12–Monday, July 14
Blomkvist woke with a start at 5:00 in the morning, scrabbling at his neck to get rid
of the noose. Salander came in and took hold of his hands, keeping him still. He
opened his eyes and looked at her blearily.
“I didn’t know that you played golf,” he said, closing his eyes again. She sat with
him for a couple of minutes until she was sure he was asleep. While he slept,
Salander had gone back to Martin Vanger’s basement to examine and photograph
the crime scene. In addition to the torture instruments, she had found a collection
of violent pornographic magazines and a large number of Polaroid photographs
pasted into albums.
There was no diary. On the other hand, she did find two A4 binders with passport
photographs and handwritten notes about the women. She put the binders in a
nylon bag along with Martin’s Dell PC laptop, which she found on the hall table
upstairs. While Blomkvist slept she continued her examination of Martin’s
computer and binders. It was after 6:00 by the time she turned off the computer.
She lit a cigarette.
Together with Mikael Blomkvist she had taken up the hunt for what they thought
was a serial killer from the past. They had found something appallingly different.
She could hardly imagine the horrors that must have played out in Martin Vanger’s
basement, in the midst of this well-ordered, idyllic spot.
She tried to understand.
Martin Vanger had been killing women since the sixties, during the past fifteen
years one or two victims per year. The killing had been done so discreetly and was
so well planned that no-one was even aware that a serial killer was at work. How
was that possible?
The binders provided a partial answer.