The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Chapter 17 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Wednesday, June 11 – Saturday, June 14

  • On Wednesday, Blomkvist goes to Cecilia's to ask her what she was doing in Harriet's room that day. He runs into her father, Harald, who says, "Your whore isn't home" (17.3).
  • Blomkvist gets in his face, and then goes to see Henrik. Henrik says that Harald calls his daughter a whore because she was once in love with a man who was part Jewish.
  • He learns Cecilia has gone to London to visit her sister, Anita.
  • Blomkvist shows Henrik what he's discovered with the pictures, and Henrik is pleased and amazed. When Blomkvist gets back to his place, his daughter Pernilla is waiting for him.
  • Pernilla is on her way to Bible camp and he's stuck by similarities between Pernilla and Harriet.
  • When he takes his daughter to the train, she tells him she can tell he doesn't like her religious studies, but that he should keep up with his own Bible studies.
  • He asks what she's talking about and she says she saw Bible quotes on his wall.
  • She's talking about the names, initials, and numbers from Harriet's date book. Blomkvist wrote them on a piece of paper and taped it to the wall of his office.
  • He realizes that the numbers refer to Biblical passages from the book of Leviticus.
  • He realizes that the passage for R.J. describes the way that Rebecka, the murdered girl Morell told him about, was killed and burned.
  • He learns from Henrik that her last name was Jacobson. She worked for the Vanger Corporation.
  • The next day, an ambulance takes Henrik to the hospital. He's had a heart attack.
  • Blomkvist talks to Dirch Frode, and learns he is to keep the investigation going. He tells Dirch about his new evidence and Dirch recommends a private investigator.
  • He learns Dirch had Salander investigate him, and he demands the report. He reads it and discovers that it has information that only could have come from his own computer.
  • He realizes that Salander is a hacker.