submitted a photograph, taken from quite a distance away, showing a white man
wearing sunglasses, an open white shirt, and light-coloured slacks. He could not be
identified with certainty, but the evening papers contacted stringers who tried
without success to track down the fugitive billionaire.
After six months the hunt was called off. Then Wennerström was found dead in an
apartment in Marbella, Spain, where he had been living under the name of Victor
Fleming. He had been shot three times in the head at close range. The Spanish
police were working on the theory, their statement said, that he had surprised a
burglar.
Wennerström’s death came as no surprise to Salander. She suspected, with good
reason, that his demise had to do with the fact that he no longer had access to the
money in a certain bank in the Cayman Islands, which he may have needed to pay
off certain debts in Colombia.
If anyone had asked for Salander’s help in tracking Wennerström, she could have
told them almost on a daily basis where he was. Via the Internet she had followed
his flight through a dozen countries and remarked a growing desperation in his
emails. Not even Blomkvist would have thought that the fugitive ex-billionaire
would be stupid enough to take along the computer that had been so thoroughly
penetrated.
After six months Salander grew tired of tracking Wennerström. The question that
remained to be answered was how far her own involvement should reach.
Wennerström was without a doubt an Olympic-class creep, but he was not her
personal enemy, and she had no interest in involving herself against him. She could
tip off Blomkvist, but he would probably just publish a story. She could tip off the
police, but there was quite a chance that Wennerström would be forewarned and
again disappear. Besides, on principle, she did not talk to the police.
But there were other debts that had to be paid. She thought about the once-
pregnant waitress whose head had been shoved underwater in her own bath.
Four days before Wennerström’s body was found, she made up her mind. She
switched on her mobile and called a lawyer in Miami, who seemed to be one of the
people Wennerström was making a big effort to hide from. She talked to a