The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

To convince Blomkvist of his theory that Harriet was murdered, Vanger shows him photographs taken on the day of her disappearance. One image shows Harriet at the town parade at 1:15pm. Another image reveals that Harriet’s bedroom window was opened around 3:45pm, suggesting that she or someone else was in her room. Vanger theorizes that Harriet was strangled and hidden in the trunk of a car until the murderer could drive across the bridge the next day after the accident was cleared. He describes how his obsession with finding the murderer over the past 37 years has turned into an “all-absorbing hobby” (121).

When Blomkvist suggests that the murderer may be dead after all these years, Vanger shows him the wall of pressed flowers. He explains that Harriet had given him the first flower in 1958 as a birthday present, and every year since then, except for the year she went missing, he has received a flower in the post on his birthday. Vanger believes the murderer is still alive, and the flowers are a torturous reminder of Harriet’s death and the murderer’s impunity. Now at the end of his life, Vanger makes one last effort to solve the case and offers Blomkvist a 2.4 million kronor contract to stay in Hedeby for a year and conduct an investigation. To ensure that Blomkvist will work earnestly, Vanger promises that if Blomkvist solves the mystery, he will double his salary; more importantly, he’ll give him indisputable evidence of Wennerström’s corruption.

The chapter intersperses Vanger’s narrative with descriptions of Salander’s clandestine actions on the same day. Helping herself to one of Milton Security’s cars, she drives to Plague’s apartment and pays him 5,000 kroner for an electronic cuff used to hack computers. She then returns to Milton Security in the middle of the night and breaks into Armansky’s office to review some of the firm’s active cases. Salander returns home after a successful day of covert activities.

Blomkvist, Berger, and Millennium’s art director, Christer Malm, meet at Blomkvist’s apartment to decide on the magazine’s organization. Malm owns a third of the publication but acknowledges that Blomkvist and Berger are the real decision-makers. Blomkvist reasons that Wennerström will continue to threaten the magazine and deter advertisers unless he steps away, if only in appearance. He also admits that he is exhausted, and the contract with Vanger will allow him to recoup as well as build a new case against Wennerström. Berger, however, feels that Blomkvist is abandoning her to deal with the aftermath of the trial alone. She quietly expresses to Malm that she is also afraid he will not return.

Salander receives a phone call from Armansky informing her that Frode has dropped the investigation on Blomkvist and she can discard her findings with pay. She has only worked on the report for three days and has a gnawing feeling that there is a secret to uncover in the Wennerström affair.