2017 NaNo Protagonist Interview

How has my life changed? Well, I think I’m even more skeptical of people than I was before. I mean, when I found that car last summer and everything that went along with that. I thought maybe that was an isolated incident, you know? Like, okay, that happened, but there are plenty of good people in the world still. I mean, there are still plenty of good people, but can you really look at anyone as if they are a good person? Mostly people in power, I’m talking about. They all take advantage of it.
I almost lost my best friend and my boyfriend all in one felt swoop, but I had to do what I had to do. That poor guy who got killed and buried, I mean, how could you just let that go? Who does that? I guess I look at Jed a bit differently now. I would have never thought he could have been bought. But, at the same time, his wife was already dead – and they threatened to kill Cooper, too. So I think you’d almost have to go along if you didn’t know what else to do. If he went to the DOJ, maybe they would run him out of town, still kill his son, and he’d really have nothing. He wouldn’t even have a place to live or a way to support himself. I guess I get that. And as far as Chad sticking up for Bill, I suppose I would have to expect that, too. He just didn’t want to believe his mentor on the force could do something like that.
One thing. This is funny. Something that changed. I never thought I was a judgmental person, you know? But when Riley Beld showed up at the hotel, I figured I was done for. I figured he was there to off me for interfering, just like everyone else. But he was there to help. He put himself on the line for me. And he paid for it with his life, but he put it all on the line for me – someone he didn’t really even know. And the people I thought were closest to me weren’t even talking to me. They didn’t want anything to do with me. And here comes this guy, a thug by all accounts, and he gives me everything I need to blow the case wide open.
I guess while the whole thing made me a bit more cynical in some regards, in other ways, like with Beld, it made me more open, too. It made me really look at people and situations before I rush to judgment. I guess everything changes you in some ways, but it can change you in good ways, too, if you look for it. All of this has taught me that, at least.