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“I seem to remember that it appeared in the police report,” he said at last.
“You seem to remember… I myself have searched high and low for police reports about the incident on Lundagatan during which Alexander Zalachenko was severely burned. The only ones available are the brief reports written by the officers at the scene.”
“That’s possible-”
“So I would very much like to know how it is that you were able to read a police report that is not available to the defence.”
“I can’t answer that,” Teleborian said. “I was shown the report in 1991 when I wrote a forensic psychiatric report on your client after the attempted murder of her father.”
“Was Prosecutor Ekström shown this report?”
Ekström squirmed. He stroked his goatee. By now he knew that he had underestimated Advokat Gia
“Yes, I’ve seen it.”
“Why wasn’t the defence given access to this material?”
“I didn’t consider it of interest to the trial.”
“Could you please tell me how you were allowed to see this report? When I asked the police, I was told only that no such report exists.”
“The report was written by the Security Police. It’s classified.”
“So Säpo wrote a report on a case involving grievous bodily harm on a woman and decided to make the report classified.”
“It’s because of the perpetrator… Alexander Zalachenko. He was a political refugee.”
“Who wrote the report?”
Silence.
“I don’t hear anything. What name was on the title page?”
“It was written by Gu
“Thank you. Is that the same Gu
“I assume it is.”
Gia
“In 1991 you committed Lisbeth Salander to the secure ward of St Stefan’s children’s psychiatric clinic-”
“That’s not correct.”
“Is it not?”
“No. Lisbeth Salander was sentenced to the secure psychiatric ward. This was the outcome of an entirely routine legal action in a district court. We’re talking about a seriously disturbed minor. That was not my own decision-”
“In 1991 a district court decided to lock up Lisbeth Salander in a children’s psychiatric clinic. Why did the district court make that decision?”
“The district court made a careful assessment of your client’s actions and mental condition – she had tried to murder her father with a petrol bomb, after all. This is not an activity that a normal teenager would engage in, whether they are tattooed or not.” Teleborian gave her a polite smile.
“And what did the district court base their judgement on? If I’ve understood correctly, they had only one forensic medical assessment to go on. It was written by yourself and a policeman by the name of Gu
“This is about Fröken Salander’s conspiracy theories, Fru Gia
“Excuse me, but I haven’t asked a question yet,” Gia
“Yes. In my capacity as trustee for Lisbeth Salander. At that stage I had met her only very briefly. Like everyone else, I got the impression that she had a serious mental illness. But since it was my job, I undertook to research her general state of health.”
“And what did Dr Caldin say?”
“She was Dr Teleborian’s patient, and Dr Caldin had not paid her any particular attention except in routine assessments and the like. It wasn’t until she had been there for more than a year that I began to discuss how she could be rehabilitated back into society. I suggested a foster family. I don’t know exactly what went on internally at St Stefan’s, but after about a year Dr Caldin began to take an interest in her.”
“How did that manifest itself?”
“I discovered that he had arrived at an opinion that differed from Dr Teleborian’s,” Palmgren said. “He told me once that he had decided to change the type of care she was receiving. I did not understand until later that he was referring to the strap restraints. Dr Caldin had decided that she should not be restrained. He didn’t think there was any reason for it.”
“So he went against Dr Teleborian’s directives?”
Ekström interrupted. “Objection. That’s hearsay.”
“No,” Palmgren said. “Not entirely. I asked for a report on how Lisbeth Salander was supposed to re-enter society. Dr Caldin wrote that report. I still have it today.”
He handed a document to Gia
“Can you tell us what it says?”
“It’s a letter from Dr Caldin to me dated October 1992, which is when Lisbeth had been at St Stefan’s for twenty months. Here Dr Caldin expressly writes that, I quote, My decision for the patient not to be restrained or force-fed has also produced the noticeable effect that she is now calm. There is no need for psychoactive drugs. However, the patient is extremely withdrawn and uncommunicative and needs continued supportive therapies. End quote.”
“So he expressly writes that it was his decision,” Gia
“That is correct. It was also Dr Caldin himself who decided that Lisbeth should be able to re-enter society by being placed with a foster family.”
Salander nodded. She remembered Dr Caldin the same way she remembered every detail of her stay at St Stefan’s. She had refused to talk to Dr Caldin… He was a “crazy-doctor,” another man in a white coat who wanted to rootle around in her emotions. But he had been friendly and good-natured. She had sat in his office and listened to him when he explained things to her.
He had seemed hurt when she did not want to speak to him. Finally she had looked him in the eye and explained her decision: I will never ever talk to you or any other crazy-doctor. None of you listen to what I have to say. You can keep me locked up here until I die. That won’t change a thing. I won’t talk to any of you. He had looked at her with surprise and hurt in his eyes. Then he had nodded as if he understood.
“Dr Teleborian,” Gia
“That is essentially correct. But I think-”
“You’ll have plenty of time to explain what you think. When Lisbeth Salander was about to turn eighteen, you once again interfered in her life and tried to have her locked up in a clinic.”
“This time I wasn’t the one who wrote the forensic medical report-”
“No, it was written by Dr Jesper H. Löderman. And he just happened to be a doctoral candidate at that time. You were his supervisor. So it was your assessments that caused the report to be approved.”
“There’s nothing unethical or incorrect in these reports. They were done according to the proper regulations of my profession.”
“Now Lisbeth Salander is twenty-seven years old, and for the third time we are in a situation in which you are trying to convince a district court that she is mentally ill and must be committed to a secure psychiatric ward.”
Teleborian took a deep breath. Gia
How much does she know?
He glanced at Prosecutor Ekström but realized that he could expect no help from that quarter. He had to ride out the storm alone.
He reminded himself that, in spite of everything, he was an authority.