Richard had been fascinated by the old man's account, but when Vanger excused himself to go to the bathroom, his scepticism returned. The old man had still not got to the end, and Richard had finally promised to listen to the whole story.
"What do you think happened to her?" he said when Vanger came back into the room.
"Normally there were some twenty-five people living here year-round, but because of the family gathering there were more than sixty on Hedeby Island that day. Of these, between twenty and twenty-five can be ruled out, pretty much so. I believe that of those remaining, someone - and in all likelihood it was someone from the family - killed Harriet and hid the body. "
"I have a dozen objections to that. "
"Let's hear them. "
"Well, the first one is that even if someone
