Chapter 6 chapter Five

Salander turned into the driveway of Up Bay in her rented Nissan. This was her first visit to the nursing home in eighteen months, and it felt a little unfamiliar, even strange.From the age of fifteen, she came to the nursing home twice a year to visit her mother who had been living here since the "big crime".My mother lived in Up Bay for ten years, where she also died after a final fatal cerebral hemorrhage at the age of forty-three. During the last fourteen years of her life, Agneta Sofia Salander suffered intermittent bouts of mild cerebral hemorrhage, which left her unable to take care of herself and sometimes even to recognize her daughter.When she thought of her mother, Salander fell into a helpless mood as dark as the night.As a teenager, she had fantasized about how her mother would get better and that they too would be able to have some kind of relationship.That was what she was thinking in her heart, but in her head she knew that such a thing would never happen.Her mother was thin and small, but her appearance was by no means so sickly as Salander's.In fact, the mother was quite beautiful and had a good figure, just like her sister Camilla.Salander did not want to think of her sister.

To Salander, the difference between the two sisters was a little joke of life.They were twins, born within twenty minutes of each other. Liz was born first.Camilla was born beautiful. They are so different that it is almost impossible to come from the same mother's womb.If it wasn't for a genetic error, Liz would be just as beautiful as her younger sister.And quite possibly just as crazy.Camilla has been extroverted and popular since she was a child, and she performed very well in school; while Liz is indifferent and introverted, and almost never answers the teacher's questions.Camilla got very good grades, Liz was consistently poor.In elementary school, Camilla had already kept a distance from her sister, and they didn't even take the same path to school.Teachers and classmates found that the two girls never interacted, never sat together.They have been in different classes of the same grade since they were eight years old.When they were twelve years old, a "terrible crime" happened, and they were sent to different foster families.They hadn't seen each other since their seventeenth birthday, and Liz's eyes were bruised and Camilla's lips swollen as a result of that encounter.Liz didn't know where Camilla lived now, and she didn't try to find out.In Liz's eyes, Camilla is a person who is insincere, depraved and has a strong desire to control, but it is Liz who is declared incompetent by society.

After zipping up her leather jacket, she walked towards the gate in the rain, stopping at a bench and looking around.It was here that she saw her mother for the last time eighteen months ago.She was about to go north to help Blomkvist track down a serial murderer, when she suddenly made an impromptu visit to the nursing home.The mother seemed restless all the time, and didn't seem to recognize Salander, just clutching her daughter's hand and looking at her with a puzzled look.Salander was anxious to leave, she broke free and hugged her mother, then rode away on the motorcycle. She was greeted warmly by Arp Bay Dean Agnes McCarson, who led her to the storage room where she found the cartons.Salander picked up the box, it only weighed two to three kilograms, not much in terms of relics.

"I have a feeling you're going to come back someday," McCarson said. "I went abroad," Salander said. She thanked the dean for keeping the box for her, then carried the box back to the car and drove away. Shortly after noon, Salander returned to Moselback.She left her mother's box untouched in a cabinet in the hall and left the apartment again. As she opened the front door, a police car drove slowly by.Salander carefully observed the movements of the police outside her residence, and seeing that they were not paying attention to her, she also forgot about them.She went to H&M and Kappa department stores to buy new clothes for herself.She picked out an assortment of basics, including trousers, jeans, tops and socks.Although not interested in expensive designer clothes, she was really happy to be able to buy six or seven pairs of jeans without thinking.The most extravagant expense of this trip was at the Twilfit counter, where I bought enough underwear to fill an entire drawer.Here is also the basic style, but after half an hour of embarrassing searching, she chose a set that she thought was very sexy, even pornographic. She had never dreamed of buying this kind of underwear before.When she tried it on that night, she felt stupid.She looks in the mirror and sees only a thin, tattooed girl in ridiculous underwear.After taking it off, throw it into the trash can.

In addition, she bought a couple of winter shoes, two lightweight indoor shoes, and a pair of high-heeled black boots to make herself look a few centimeters taller.She also found a nice winter jacket in brown buckskin. She made coffee, made a sandwich, and drove the rental car back to the depot near Beltway.After walking home, she sat by the window all night without turning on the light, just looking at the water of the salt lake. ※※※ Mia cut the cheesecake, each topped with a scoop of raspberry ice cream, and served Erica and Blomkvist before setting down the plates for Duggar and herself.Marlene insisted on refusing dessert and drank black coffee out of an old china cup with a floral design.

"This is my grandmother's china set," Mia said as she saw Marlene examining the cup. "She's terrified of breaking the glass," Darger said. "She only uses it when she has very important guests." Mia smiled and said, "I lived with my grandmother for a few years when I was a child, and this set of porcelain is the only thing she left behind." "It's really beautiful," Marlene said. "My kitchen is 100 percent IKEA." Blomkvist didn't care about the floral coffee mug, but glanced appraisingly at the cake tray. While considering whether the belt should be loosened a notch.Erica clearly felt the same way as him.

"My God, I should refuse dessert too." She glanced at Marlene remorsefully, but still picked up the spoon firmly. This should be a simple work dinner. On the one hand, we will consolidate the cooperation plan that has been reached, and on the other hand, we will continue to discuss the planning of the special issue.Dag suggested a casual meal at his place, and Mia made a dish of sweet and sour chicken, a delicacy Blomkvist had never tasted before.During the meal they drained two bottles of fine Spanish red wine, and at dessert Darger asked if anyone would like a glass of Irish Tullamore whiskey, only Erica foolishly declined.Dag then took out his glass.

This is a one bedroom apartment located in Anskied.The hostess and hostess have been dating for several years, but it was not until a year ago that they boldly decided to live together. They met around six in the afternoon, and by the time dessert was served at eight-thirty, the reason for the high-sounding dinner hadn't even been mentioned.But Blomkvist did find himself liking the hosts and enjoying their company. Finally Erika finally turned the topic to the topic they had come to discuss.Mia printed out the thesis and put it in front of Erica. Surprisingly, the title was quite ironic: "From Russia with Love", which is obviously a nod to the classic novel.The subtitle is "Illegal Trade, Organized Crime, and Social Response."

"You have to see the difference between my dissertation and the book Darger is writing," she said. "Darger's book is an argument against people who are profiting from illegal transactions. It's the study of statistics, fieldwork, the letter of the law, and how society and courts treat victims." "You mean the girls." "Usually young girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty, working class, low education, mostly unstable family life, many even suffered some kind of abuse in childhood. One of the reasons they came to Sweden , just listened to a bunch of lies."

"The lies of sex traffickers." "In this respect, my thesis has a gendered perspective. Rarely have researchers defined roles with such clear gender lines. Girls—victims; boys—organizers. This is the only gender role A form of crime that is the premise of a crime in itself, with the exception of a small number of women who work independently and profit from the sex trade. It is also the form of crime that is the most socially acceptable, or the most neglected by society.” "But Sweden does have very strict illegal and sex trafficking laws." Erica said, "Isn't it?"

"Don't joke about it. Every year hundreds of girls - obviously no public figures - are sent to Sweden for prostitution, that is to say, for their bodies to be raped on a regular basis. The test was done several times. The first was in April 2003, and the defendant was that crazy old chicken who had undergone sex reassignment surgery. In the end, of course, he was acquitted." "I thought she was sentenced." "She was sentenced for running a brothel, but was acquitted of the trafficking charges. The point is, the girls who were victims were also witnesses against her and disappeared back to the Baltic states. Interpol tried to track them down. whereabouts, but after months of hard work, it is believed to be nowhere to be found." "How are they doing?" "It's all right. The TV show 'Inside Perspective' went to Tallinn for follow-up. It took the reporter only one afternoon to find two of them, who lived with their parents. The third girl moved to Italy." "In other words, the police in Tallinn are not efficient." "Since then, there have indeed been a few cases of sentencing, but everyone who has been sentenced is either arrested for another crime or too stupid not to be arrested. The law is purely cosmetic and not enforced .The problem now is," Darger said, "that crimes, in addition to aggravated rape, often involve collateral damage, aggravated injury and possibly death, and sometimes unlawful imprisonment. Many are taken to suburban villas in miniskirts and heavy make-up Girls live like this every day. The point is girls like this have no choice but to go out and fuck those dirty old men and risk being abused and tortured by pimps. These girls can't run away because they don't know what to say here They don’t know the language, they don’t know the law, they don’t know where they can go. They can’t go home because their passports are taken away, and the girl in the brothel madam case is locked in an apartment.” "Sounds like a slavery camp. Are the girls making any money?" "Yes," Mia said. "They usually work for a few months before they are allowed to go home, and they get 20,000 to 30,000 kronor, which is a lot of money in Russia. Unfortunately, they often Get addicted to alcohol or drugs, and with this lifestyle, the money will run out quickly. This keeps the system alive, because after a while they come back, and automatically, so to speak, to the abuser. " "What is the annual turnover of this business?" asked Blomkvist. Mia glanced at Dag, thought for a moment before answering. "It's hard to come up with a correct answer. We've run the numbers over and over, but of course these are mostly estimates." "Tell us about it." "Well, for example we know that the madam who was prosecuted for pimping but was acquitted brought in thirty-five women from Eastern Europe over a two-year period, staying anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. During the trial I found out that they earned two million kroner during the two years. I figured out that a girl earns about sixty thousand kroner a month. Let's say about fifteen thousand of that is expenses - transportation, clothing, board and lodging Wait, they don't enjoy their lives, they may have to live with a group of girls in an apartment provided by a prostitution syndicate - the remaining 45,000 kroner, the syndicate takes 20,000 to 30,000 kroner, and the leader puts half of it - just say Fifteen thousand—to your own pocket, and the rest will be shared equally among the drivers, thugs, etc. Girls are paid 10,000 to 12,000 crowns.” "Every month?" "Assuming a group has two or three girls who work for them, they can earn about 150,000 a month. There are about two or three members of a group, and they make a living from it. The income from forced sex is roughly the same." "How many people are there in total——according to your guess." "At any one time there are a hundred or so girls in prostitution, more or less victims of the illegal trade. This means that the total income in Sweden is around six million kronor per month, about seventy million per year. This only includes Girls who are victims of the illegal trade." "Sounds like petty gains." "It's a small profit indeed. But to make such a small amount of money, a hundred or so girls have to be raped. Just thinking about it drives me crazy." "You don't seem to be very objective as a researcher! But how many rotten people live off these girls?" "I'd estimate about three hundred people." "It doesn't sound like an insurmountable problem," Erica said. “We passed the bill and the media made a fuss about it, but almost no one actually talked to these Eastern European girls and had no idea what their lives were like.” "How does that work? I mean practically. It should be very difficult to bring a sixteen-year-old girl from Tallinn unobtrusively. How will it work when they get there?" Blomweiss Special question. "When I first started investigating, I thought there was a very well-established organization using some kind of professional mafia technique to lure girls across the border without anyone knowing." "Isn't it the result?" Marlene asked. "The business side is organized, but I've come to the conclusion that there's a lot of small, unorganized groups out there. Armani suits, sports cars, not to mention—half Russian or Baltic, half Swedish. The conglomerate The leader is about forty years old, with very low education level, has had problems all his life, and has completely stone age ideas about women. There is a clear hierarchy in the group, and his subordinates are usually afraid of him. He is violent and often in a trance As long as someone is disobedient, he will be beaten to death." ※※※ The furniture Salander bought at IKEA arrived at 9:30 in the morning three days later.After the two extremely burly men shook hands with the blond Nesser with a thick Norwegian accent, they immediately began to carry the boxes. Because the elevator was too small, they ran back and forth several times, and then assembled tables, cabinets and beds. all day long.Neisser also went to the Sodhalana market to take out some Greek food for lunch. The IKEA people left around four or five in the afternoon.Salander took off her wig and wandered around the apartment, wondering if she would like her new home.The dining table looks too elegant to be real.The room next to the kitchen, with separate doors leading to the hall and kitchen, was her new living room, with a modern sofa and armchairs surrounding a coffee table by the window.She was very satisfied with the bedroom, and sat on the Hannes bed frame to test the firmness of the mattress. She sat down at her desk in the studio, admiring the view of the salt lake.Yes, such a decoration is very good.I can do things here. But what to do, she didn't know. Salander spent the rest of the evening arranging her belongings.She made the bed, put the towels, sheets, and pillowcases in the special cupboard, opened the bags, took out the new clothes, and hung them in the closet.Despite buying so many things, it only fills a small part of the space.She put the lamps in place, and the dishes, crockery, and cutlery were put away in the kitchen cabinets and drawers. She looked at the empty walls dissatisfied, and thought to buy some posters or paintings.Or a tapestry.A potted flower is also good. Then she unpacked the cardboard boxes she had brought from Lunda Road and put the books on the shelves, while the magazines, newspaper clippings and old investigative reports that should have been thrown away were put in drawers in the studio.Old T-shirts and socks with holes were thrown away without hesitation.Suddenly she found a dildo, still in its original box.She smiled wryly.It was one of the many ridiculous birthday presents given to her that she had forgotten she had and had never tried.Now she decides to make up for her oversight by putting the dildo on the bedside table. She suddenly became serious.Miriam.I couldn't help feeling guilty.She had been in a steady relationship with Miriam for a year, and then she abandoned her for Blomkvist's sake without any explanation, without saying goodbye or of her intention to go abroad.She also didn't say goodbye to Armansky or reveal anything to the Wicked Finger girls.They must have thought she was dead, or else they had simply forgotten her—she had never been the central figure in the group.Just then it occurred to her that she hadn't said goodbye to Bran in Grenada either, wondering if he'd be looking for her on the beach.She remembered what Blomkvist had said that friendship was based on respect and trust.I am constantly consuming my friends.She wondered if Miriam was still there, and whether she should try to contact her. From evening until late at night, she was in the studio sorting out files, setting up computers, and surfing the Internet.She took a quick look at her investments and found that she was richer than she was a year ago.She checked Bierman's computer routinely, and found nothing in the letters that would suggest he was not following the rules.Both his work and private life seem to have shrunk to a semi-standstill, with e-mail rarely used and his surfing mostly pornographic.She didn't go offline until two o'clock in the morning, went into the bedroom, took off her clothes and put them on the back of the chair, and then looked in the mirror for a long time in the bathroom, examining her thin and asymmetrical face and her new breasts.And the tattoo on his back—it's beautiful, it's a red, green, and black dragon.During the year of traveling abroad, she let her hair grow to shoulder length, but on the eve of leaving Grenada, she took a pair of scissors and cut it, and it is still in a mess. She sensed that something very significant had changed, or was changing, in her life.Maybe it's because you have billions of kronor in your hands, so you don't have to worry about pennies.Maybe it was the belated adult world rushing into her life.Perhaps it was the death of her mother that made her realize that childhood was over. During breast augmentation surgery in the Genoa clinic, a nipple ring had to be removed.She later removed the lip ring on her lower lip and the left labia ring on Grenada—the labia was bruised, and now she can't imagine how she got pierced in that place.She yawned, took off the tongue nail that had been worn for seven years, and put it in a bowl on the shelf next to the sink, feeling empty in her mouth.Now, apart from the earrings, there are only two piercings left on her body: one is the eyebrow ring of the left eyebrow, and the other is the navel ring. Finally she got under her new duvet.The new bed was so big it felt like I was lying on the edge of a football field.She pulled up the quilt to wrap herself up and thought for a long time.

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Notes: "Mimi" in a book.