Chapter 3 Chapter two

Lawyer Nice Eric Bierman put down the coffee cup in his hand and watched the crowds on Storr Square through the window of Café Hedun.Pedestrians passed by his eyes one by one in an endless stream, but he didn't notice any of them. He was thinking of Liz Salander.He often thought of Salander.Every time I think of her, I always get angry. Salander had ruined him, and he would never forget it.She took control, humiliated him, abused him, and left an indelible mark on him.Just above the genitals, the area is about the size of a book.She handcuffed him to a bed, tortured him, and tattooed him with the words "I'm a sadistic pig, I'm a pervert, I'm a rapist" and so on.

The Stockholm District Court ruled Salander legally incapacitated and appointed him as guardian, making her dependent on him.After the first meeting, Bierman had fantasies about her.He couldn't tell, but it seemed to be caused by her temptation. He, a fifty-five-year-old lawyer, is reprehensible for doing such a thing, and cannot defend himself by any standard.Of course he was well aware of this.But since the first time he saw Salander in December two years ago, he couldn't resist her.The law, the most basic moral values, his responsibilities as a guardian, all are unimportant. She was a strange girl—full-grown, with an appearance that could easily be mistaken for a child.He controls her life, and she has to listen to him in everything.Even if she intends to protest, her credibility will be greatly compromised by a bad record.What's more, he didn't rape an innocent girl—from the file, we can see that she has rich sexual experience, and she can even be called a sexual life.A social worker report also mentioned that Salander may have engaged in sex trafficking when she was seventeen.In addition, once a patrolman saw an older drunk man and a young girl sitting on a bench in Dantorendon Park, and went up to check. The girl refused to answer questions, and the man was too drunk because he was too drunk. Can't provide clear information at all.In Bierman's eyes, the conclusion is simple: Salander is the lowest class of prostitutes in society.Zero risk.Even if she dared to report to the Guardianship Bureau, no one would believe her accusation against him.She was the ideal plaything—mature, sexually confused, socially maladjusted, and at his mercy.

This was the first time he had taken advantage of his client.Before that, he had never thought of showing love to anyone with whom he had business dealings.If you want to satisfy your sexual needs, you always call a prostitute to solve it.He has always been cautious and low-key, and his shots are generous. The problem is that prostitutes have no real feelings, they are just pretending.He just pays the woman to moan and look: she plays her part, but as fake as a busker. For many years after marriage, he also tried to control his wife, but she just cooperated with the show, which was also fake.

Salander became the best solution.She was powerless to resist.She has no family, no friends, and she is a real victim.If there is an opportunity, the thieves will come.Unexpectedly, she unexpectedly destroyed him.He had never dreamed that she had the strength and determination to fight back.She humiliated him, abused him, and nearly destroyed him.In the nearly two years since then, Biermann's life has changed dramatically.Ever since Salander entered his apartment that night, he had been numb, barely able to think clearly or act decisively.He closed himself off, didn't answer the phone, and couldn't even keep in touch with the regular parties.Two weeks later, he continued to call in sick.Handling office correspondence, canceling all meetings, trying to appease distraught clients, etc., was left to the secretary.Every day, he had to face the tattoo on his body, and finally took off the mirror on the bathroom door.At the beginning of summer, when he returned to work in the firm, most of the clients were transferred to his colleagues, leaving only some corporate clients who he was responsible for dealing with business legal correspondence but did not need to attend meetings.Now, only Salander is the only person who really has dealings with her—he has to write a detailed income and expenditure statement and report to the Guardianship Bureau every month.He did exactly what she asked: nothing in the report was true, and it made it clear that she no longer needed a guardian.Every report reminded him of her presence, agonizing but with no choice.

In summer and autumn, Biermann brooded in helpless and angry emotions.It wasn't until December that I cheered up and went to France for vacation. I also took the opportunity to visit a plastic surgery clinic in the suburbs of Marseille to inquire about the effect of tattoo removal. The doctor couldn't hide his surprise when he examined his abdomen, and finally made a suggestion.He said that although laser treatment can be used, the tattoo area is too wide and the needle is too deep. The only feasible way may be a series of skin grafts.That's not only expensive but also time-consuming.Bierman had only seen Salander once in the past two years.

On the night she attacked him and took control of his life, she took backup keys to his office and apartment.She said she would look at him and show up when he least expects it.After a while, he almost began to think it was just a threat, but he still didn't dare to change the lock.Her warning was clear—if he found out he was sleeping with a woman again, the ninety-minute tape of him raping her would be released to the world. One day in January one year ago, he suddenly woke up at three o'clock in the morning for no reason.After turning on the bedside lamp, he suddenly saw her standing at the end of the bed, almost screaming out of fright.She appeared suddenly like a ghost, pale and expressionless, with an electric shock baton in her hand.

"Good morning, Barrister Bierman," she said, "I'm sorry to wake you up so early." God, has she been here before?while i sleep? Unable to tell if she was playing tricks, Bierman cleared his throat and was about to speak, but she stopped him with a gesture. "I have only one reason for waking you up. Soon I will be away for a long time, and you will still be writing reports every month, but the copies will not be sent by mail, but sent to this hot mail box for me." As she spoke, she took out a folded piece of paper from her jacket and threw it on the bed.

"If the Department of Guardianship wants to contact me, or if something happens that requires my presence, just write an e-mail to this mailbox. Got it?" He nodded. "I see……" "Shut up, I don't want to hear your voice." He gritted his teeth and endured.He had been afraid to approach her before because she had threatened to turn over the videotape if he did so.So he pondered for months what to say in case she reached out.In fact, he can't defend himself at all, he can only try to impress her human side.He would try to convince her—if only she would give him a chance to speak—that he had lost his mind, that he really regretted it and hoped to make it up.As long as he can convince her, as long as the danger of the threat can be reduced to some extent, he is willing to kneel on the ground.

"I have something to say," he said in a pitiful voice, "I want to ask your forgiveness..." Salander listened to his plea quietly, then put one foot on the end of the bed and stared contemptuously. with him. "Listen up, Bierman: you're a pervert, and I have no reason to forgive you. But as long as you keep yourself clean, I'll set you free on the day the court revokes my incapacity." She waited until he dropped eyes.She made me grovel. "What I said a year ago is still valid. If you don't do it, the videotape will be sent to the police station. As long as you don't contact me as I ordered, I will release the videotape. If I die in an accident, the videotape will be sent to the police station." Exposure. If you touch me again, I'll kill you." He believed her.

"One more thing. After I set you free, you can do whatever you like. But until then, you are not allowed to set foot in that clinic in Marseilles again. You start treatment, and I'll tattoo you again, and this time will be stabbed in the forehead." How on earth did this witch know about the clinic? In a blink of an eye she was gone, and the click of her front door key could be heard faintly, as if a ghost had just visited. At that moment, he began to hate Salander with an intensity like the flame of blazing iron burning in his brain, and it made him only want to destroy her ever since.He fantasized about killing her, and casually imagined her lying at his feet begging for mercy.But he won't forgive her.He would strangle her neck with both hands, strangle her until she couldn't breathe, and goug out her eyeballs and heart, and make her disappear from the face of the earth.

Paradoxically, at the same moment, he felt as if his body and mind were beginning to function again, and he also found a surprising balance of emotions in his heart.His mind was full of that woman, and he thought of her every waking moment.But he also began to regain his rational thinking.If he wanted to destroy her, he had to clear his mind.His life has a new purpose.He stopped fantasizing about her death and started planning it. Blomkvist passed less than two yards behind Attorney Bierman as he walked over to the table of editor-in-chief Erika Bayeux with two hot lattes at Café Hutton.But neither he nor Erica had heard of Bierman, so neither knew he was there.Erika frowned and pushed the ashtray aside to make room for the coffee.Blomkvist draped his jacket over the back of the chair, pulled the ashtray with one hand, and lit a cigarette.Erica, who hated the smell of cigarettes, gave him a hard look.He turned his head and blew smoke the other way. "I thought you quit smoking." "Back to bad habits for a while." "I will never sleep with a man who smells of cigarettes anymore." She said with a sweet smile. "It's okay, there are many girls who are not as special as you." Blomkvist also smiled. Erica rolled her eyes. "Come on, what's the problem? Xiao Xia and I made an appointment to meet at the theater in 20 minutes." Xiao Xia is Xia Luojie Rosenbo, a childhood friend. "That intern girl bothers me," Blomkvist said. "I don't mind that she's the daughter of one of your girlfriends, but she's still in the editorial office for eight weeks, and I'm afraid I won't be able to take that long. " "I noticed her staring at you with hunger. Of course, I hope you behave like a gentleman." "Erica, that girl is only seventeen years old, and her IQ is only ten years old. Maybe I overestimated it." "She's just impressed with you, maybe with a little hero worship." "At 10:30 last night, she came to ring the bell for my downstairs door, saying that she wanted to come up with a bottle of wine." "Oops," Erica said. "It's bad, yes. If I were twenty years younger, I might not hesitate, but I'm almost forty-five now." "Don't remind me. We're the same year." The Wennerstrom affair brought Blomkvist a bit of fame.Over the past year, he has been invited to many totally unexpected places, parties and events.He's blown kisses by all kinds of people who haven't even shaken hands before.Most of them are not media people-he knows all media people, and if he is not friendly with him, he is not friendly-but the so-called cultural people, and now these second-rate celebrities want to pretend to be familiar with him.Today, people are clamoring for Blomkvist to be a luncheon or private dinner guest. "Sounds very attractive, but unfortunately I already have an appointment." It became his routine reply. One downside to his stardom is the constant rumours.An acquaintance mentioned with concern the rumors he had heard that Blomkvist had been seen in a rehabilitation clinic.In fact, Blomkvist has only smoked six marijuana cigarettes since he was a teenager, and tried cocaine once 15 years ago with a female singer of a Dutch rock band.As for alcohol, he has only ever gotten drunk at private dinners or parties.In pubs, usually only a large stout is drunk, but he also likes a medium-strength beer.And there are vodka and several bottles of single malt whiskey in the wine cabinet at home, all of which are gifts from others, and the number of times he enjoys it is pitiful. The fact that Blomkvist is currently single and occasionally flirtatious is well known both within and outside of his circle of friends, which has fueled further rumors.His long-standing affair with Erica is often the subject of speculation and discussion.More recently, it has been reported that he has hooked up countless women and used his new celebrity status to attack Stockholm nightclubs.An obscure journalist even encouraged him to seek help for his sex addiction.Blomkvist did have many short-lived male-female relationships.He knew he was pretty, but he never considered himself a heartthrob.It's just that people often say that he has a quality that attracts women. Erica also said that he exudes confidence and security at the same time, which can make women feel at ease.Having a relationship with him is not coerced or complicated, but you can enjoy the stimulation of sex.According to Blomkvist, that is a matter of course. Blomkvist's relationships are best with the women he knows and loves, so it's no accident that the two developed an affair when Erica was a young journalist twenty years earlier.However, the current popularity has made women interested in him to a strange degree.Most surprising of all, young women would suddenly make love to him under unexpected circumstances. But hot girls in miniskirts don't excite Blomkvist.From a young age, most of his female friends were older (sometimes much older) and more experienced than he was.As time went by, the age gap gradually narrowed.Salander had indeed set him off a step. That's why he was eager to meet and discuss with Erica. Millennium hired a journalism school graduate as an intern, sort of a favor to one of Erica's friends.It's not a big deal, a few interns are hired every year anyway.After Blomkvist greeted the girl politely, it soon became apparent that she had little interest in journalism other than "wanting to be on TV," according to Blomkvist's guess, currently in Millennium "The work can be regarded as a big step forward. She would seize every opportunity to be in close contact with him, and although he pretended not to notice her bold overtures, it only prompted her to redouble her efforts.The situation does become tiring.Erica laughed out loud. "My God, I didn't expect you to be sexually harassed in the company!" "Erica, this is a liability. I definitely don't want to hurt her or embarrass her, but she's pretty much a mare in heat. I'm afraid she doesn't know what she's going to do next." "She's infatuated with you, she's just too young to know how to express it." "You are wrong. She is very clear about how to express it. Her sense of proportion is a bit distorted, and she will be angry if I don't take the bait. I don't need a new wave of rumors to make me look like a lecherous, wanting A rock star who hunts for sex." "Okay, but first let me get the point across. Did she just ring your doorbell last night?" "Bring a bottle of wine. She said she was going to a party at a friend's house, which happened to be nearby, and tried to pretend that her presence in our building was purely coincidental." "what do you say?" "Of course I didn't let her in. I said she came at a bad time and I had friends." "How did she react?" "She was upset, but she left anyway." "So what do you want me to do?" "Tell her to stop bothering me. I plan to have a good talk with her on Monday and either she stops or I kick her out." Erica thought for a moment. "Let me talk to her. She's looking for a friend, not a lover." "I don't know what she's looking for, but..." "Michel, I've been through her situation. I'll talk to her." Anyone who has watched television or read the evening papers in the past year has heard of Michael Blomkvist, and Biermann was no exception, but did not recognize him at the Hutton Cafe, and he Also completely unaware of the relationship between Salander and "Millennium". Besides, he was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he had no time to pay attention to his surroundings. Since the state of mental paralysis was lifted, he kept circling around the same problem.Salander had a videotape of his sexual assault, which she recorded with a hidden camera and forced him to watch.There was no room for him to make a favorable argument.If the tape ever ends up in the Custody Service, or even gets into the hands of the media -- let's hope that doesn't happen -- his career, his freedom, his life are over.He knew the punishment for aggravated rape, exploitation of the vulnerable, injury and aggravated injury, probably at least six years in prison.If he meets a passionate prosecutor, he may be prosecuted for attempted murder based on the content of a certain video.He simply suffocated her by pressing a pillow against her face in excitement during the rape.At this time, he really hoped that he hadn't let go. They won't believe she's been playing tricks from start to finish.She seduced him with those cute eyes of a little girl, and with a body like a twelve-year-old girl, she was the one who incited him to rape her.They would never understand that she was actually acting.She had planned it... the first thing he would do was get the tape and find a way to make sure there were no other copies.This is the crux of the matter. He was 100% sure that a witch like Salander would definitely make enemies over the years.Maybe someone has been or is trying to trouble her, but unlike these people, Attorney Bierman has an absolute advantage. He has access to all her medical records, social welfare reports and psychiatric evaluations.Only a handful of people in Sweden know her secret, and Biermann is one of them. After he agreed to act as her guardian, the personal data copied to him by the Guardianship Bureau consisted of only fifteen pages. A guardianship order, and her bank account details for the previous year. He read this document over and over again, and then began to systematically collect information about Salander's life. As a lawyer, he was extremely skilled at extracting information from public agency records.And as her guardian, you can delve into the layers of secrecy surrounding her medical records.Files related to Salander were available to him whenever he wanted them. Still, it took him months to piece together her life, bit by bit, from the earliest elementary school reports, social worker reports, police reports and local court copies.He had discussed her condition with Jesper Rodman, the psychiatrist who recommended Salander's admission to the hospital on her eighteenth birthday.Rodman gave him a summary of the case.Everyone helped.A woman from the Social Welfare Department even appreciated how attentively he was to getting to know every aspect of Salander's life. In addition, he also found two notebooks that are gold mines of information in a dusty box in the archives of the Guardianship Bureau.The content was put together by Bierman's predecessor, guardian attorney Horrell Panglan, who obviously knew Salander better than anyone.Panglan dutifully submitted a report to the Guardianship Service every year, but Bierman guessed that Salander was probably unaware that Panglan himself kept separate detailed records.Since Panglan suffered a stroke two years ago, the notebook has been in the Guardianship Bureau, and no one seems to have read the contents. This is the original.There is no indication that it was ever copied.Great.Paglan's description of Salander was very different from what he had deduced from the Social Welfare report, because he had followed her painstaking transformation from rebellious teenager to mature woman to employee of Milton Security—a It was Panglan who found her a job through her connections.Bierman learned from the notes that Salander was by no means a dull handyman who was responsible for copying and making coffee, but had a real job, and she was indeed carrying out investigative tasks for Milton CEO Armansky.Panglan and Armanski apparently knew each other well, occasionally exchanging messages about the girl they were protecting. Salander seemed to have had only two friends in her life, and both considered themselves her protectors.Now Pangem is out.Armansky is still around and could be a threat.Bierman decided to avoid Armansky. The notebook explains a lot.Bierman thus understood how Salander knew him so well, and although she couldn't figure out how she knew he had gone to a French plastic surgery clinic, most of the mysteries about her had been solved.She makes a living by snooping into other people's lives.He immediately felt new vigilance about his own investigation. Since Salander could enter his residence, it might not be appropriate to place any information related to her at home.So he packed all his papers, put them in a cardboard box, and took them to his summer cottage near Stahlhermann, where he spent more and more time in solitary contemplation. The more information he read about Salander, the more convinced he was that she had mental problems.Thinking of how she handcuffed him to the bed gave me chills.At that time, Bierman was completely under her control, and if she was allowed to find a justification in the future, he had no doubt that she would kill him as she said.She lacks social inhibition, a report concluded.Then he can draw a further or two-step conclusion: she is a sick, murderous, abnormal bastard.A grenade with the safety catch removed.a whore. Panglan provided the last critical key.On several occasions he recorded the conversations between him and Salander, very privately, like a diary.An old madman.In two of the conversations, he used the words "after the "great evil" happened". This term should be borrowed directly from Salander's words, but it is not clear what events are alluded to. Bierman wrote the words "great evil".How many years in a foster home?Attacked sometime?The answer should be in the materials at his hand. He opened Salander's eighteen-year-old psychiatric review report and read it again for the fifth or sixth time.There must be something missing in his understanding.He had excerpts from her elementary school notebooks, an affidavit showing that Salander's mother was unable to care for her, and reports from several foster homes she had lived in as a teenager.Something happened when she was twelve and it drove her crazy. There are other gaps in her biography. To his great surprise, Salander had a twin sister, which had never been mentioned in his previous documents.My God, there was another one.But he couldn't find anything about the other sister's whereabouts. The father is unknown, and there is no explanation as to why the mother cannot take care of her.Bierman guessed that she was probably ill, and that started the whole process, including a period spent in a children's psychiatric hospital.But now it is certain that something happened when Salander was twelve or thirteen years old.Great evil.is some kind of trauma.But what could be the "great evil"?There is no trace in Panglan's notes. At last he discovered that one of the attachments mentioned in the psychiatric review report was missing - a police report dated March 12, 1991.From the copy he copied in the archives of the Social Welfare Department, it can be seen that someone has handwritten it in the margin.When he asked to read the report, he was told that the document was stamped "Top Secret by order of His Highness", but he could apply to the relevant government department. Biermann was in trouble.In fact, it is not surprising that a police report about a twelve-year-old girl has been classified, perhaps for various reasons to protect privacy.But he was Salander's guardian and had the right to review any documents related to her.Why do you have to apply to the government department to obtain such a report? But he submitted the application anyway.Notification was received two months later that the application had been rejected.What was so extraordinary about a police report nearly fourteen years ago about a girl so young that it was classified as top secret?What threat might it pose to the Swedish government?He looked through Panglan's notes again, trying to figure out what the "great evil" might symbolize, but he couldn't find any clues.It must have been discussed verbally with the ward, but never written down.The mention of "a great evil" is at the end of the second notebook, and it may have been too late for Panglan to draw his own conclusions about this apparently important series of events before his stroke. Pagland was her trustee from her thirteenth birthday and became her guardian from the time she turned eighteen, so Salander was sent to a children's psychiatric hospital shortly after the "big crime" happened. After that, he got involved.He may be very clear about all the ins and outs.Bierman looked through the files of the Guardianship Bureau again, this time looking for the detailed task content drawn up by the Ministry of Social Welfare for Panglan.At first glance, it's rather disappointing: only two pages of background information.Salander's mother was unable to support her daughter, and the two children were forced to separate. Camilla Salander was placed in a foster family through the Department of Social Welfare, and Liz Salander was imprisoned in St. Stephen's Children's Mental Hospital.No alternatives were mentioned. Why?There is only one cryptic statement stating: "In view of the events of March 12, 1991, the Ministry of Social Welfare decided that..." Then the top secret police report is mentioned again, but here is the person responsible for writing it. The name of the reporting officer. Biermann looked at the name in shock.It was a name he was familiar with.He was very familiar indeed, and this discovery put a whole new twist on the whole thing.It still took him two months to get the report, and the method he used was quite special.The report consists of forty-seven pages of A4 size paper, and about twelve pages of notes, which were added successively during the six-year period.Lastly is the photo and name.God...impossible. There was another person who had reason to hate Salander as much as he did. He had an ally, but it was the last, most unlikely one.A black shadow landed on the table of Hedun Cafe, waking up Bierman who was in a daze.He looked up and saw a blond... giant, that's all he could say.He flinched for a few seconds before regaining his composure. The man looked down at him. He was more than two meters tall and had a surprisingly strong figure.Needless to say, he is a bodybuilder with no visible fat on his body, which gives people a very amazing impression.The blond hair had been shaved off on the sides, save for a short tuft on top of the head; there was an oval face, eerily soft, almost childlike; but there was nothing gentle about the ice-blue eyes.He was wearing a half-length black leather jacket, blue shirt, black pants, and a black tie.Biermann was the last to notice his hand.If the rest of him is oversized, these hands are oversized. "Attorney Bierman?" He had a slight European accent, but his voice was very high-pitched. Bierman couldn't help but nodded with difficulty. "We have your letter." "Who are you? What I want to see is..." At this moment, a man with oversized hands sat across from Bierman and interrupted him. "You can only see me. Tell me what you want." Biermann hesitated.It's uncomfortable to be at the mercy of a stranger, but it has to be.He reminded himself that he was not alone in holding a grudge against Salander, and now he had to recruit allies.So he explained his plan in a low voice.