Phoebe Judge

It might turn out that Christian Bala is the creation of Chris, not the other way around.

Christian had also posted excerpts of the book on his blog and would respond to reader comments under the name Chris.

But David says Christian would dismiss suggestions that parts of the book had been drawn from his own life.

Still, as the detectives combed through the novel, they found more similarities.

In the novel, the narrator, Chris, gets drunk one night with a friend and they decide to steal a figurine of St.

Anthony from a church.

Jacek Robleski discovered that Christian Bala had once been caught by the police doing the exact same thing.

The friend he'd been with had told a judge they stole the statue because, quote, we wanted a third person to drink with.

And there were other things.

Christian had been left by his wife, so had the narrator Chris.

Both men loved philosophy, both drank a lot, and both owned businesses that had gone bankrupt.

Chris alludes to the other murder in a conversation with a girlfriend.

After she questions the truth of his stories, he asked her if she didn't believe that he, quote, killed a man who behaved inappropriately toward me ten years ago.

He adds, quote, everyone considers it a fable.

Maybe it's better that way.

Sometimes I don't believe it myself.

We'll be right back.

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