David Grann

and had dark hair, and the hair was kind of standing up as if the person had kind of been rubbing their hand through it.

Very handsome, but they looked like a grad student.

And I realized I was looking at Christian Bala.

When we spoke about the novel, he was very excited when we talked about different theories and truth.

When I asked him about some of the very specific evidence about the cell phone, how did he get hold of that, and some of the other, like why on the public telephone did it look like he had made the call to the advertising firm, and

On those points, he was a bit evasive and kind of conspiratorial, and I didn't feel like I ever got clear answers.

But he maintained his innocence, and he kept saying, I'm the author.

I'm the author.

I know what I meant.

I know what I meant.

Well, one of the questions that always kind of haunted this case was, you know, and for me as someone who spent, you know, many months researching it was, you know, why did you write the novel?

And, you know, had the novel not been written, I don't think Jacek ever would have had his suspicions raised to the extent that he did.

And it did give him, to some extent, a roadmap.

You know, the character in the novel is somebody who is dealing with guilt and a guilty conscience.

I mean, that is kind of one of the themes of the novel.

So was the author dealing with a guilty conscience?

Was this his confession?

He thought, and he still thinks, at least when I met him, that his novel, while it was obscured at the time, would one day be recognized for the masterpiece it was.

And then I'll never forget this.

At one point he said to me, he said, I'm working on a second book.