Ruth Ann Nordin: Suspect #1 in who kidnapped Dave Larson.

Owen: Where were you on March 9 when Dave Larson went missing?

Ruth: I can’t believe you’re bringing me in for questioning.

Owen: Please answer the question.

Ruth:  This is stupid.  I’m the author.  What would I have to gain by getting rid of my most popular character? 

Owen:  You have the perfect motive for kidnapping Dave Larson.  He was trying to rewrite Isaac’s Decision and created the Characters for Better Treatment Union.

Ruth: Even if he tried to sabotage my work, I wouldn’t get rid of him.  He’s one of my most popular characters, and contrary to what people might believe, he’s one of the easiest characters to work with when it comes time to writing the actual book. 

Owen: If he’s such an easy character to work with, why did you tell Joseph Connealy in his news article, “Frankly, he was becoming a pain.  Always yapping on about something he doesn’t like that I’m doing.  Maybe he went off to write his own book.  I can only hope his characters are giving him the same grief he’s given me.” Sounds like a perfect motive for kidnapping him.  So, where were you on March 9?

Ruth: Oh let’s see…  I was probably laughing with Stephanie Beman about Kayla who had just sent Dave that fan letter.  Only a brainless nymph would agree with Dave’s stupid union idea.

Owen: That’s not true.  I hear other characters such as Lord Roderick were considering joining it.  If Lord Roderick had joined, he would have went on strike and you wouldn’t have been able to write The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife.

Ruth: As I recall, I have to rewrite over half the book anyway, so it might have been better if he had gone on strike.

Owen: But you didn’t realize you’d be rewriting it at the time.

Ruth: No, I didn’t.  But then it’s hard to know how the final story looks when you’re moving scenes around, deleting scenes and adding scenes…  Until you go back and reread the thing from start to finish, you can’t know how it all comes together.

Owen: Would you say you had a lack of focus while writing the first draft of that book?

Ruth: Yeah, I guess you could say that.

Owen: Could that be because you had Dave locked in your basement and got distracted by his demands to be freed?

Ruth: You’re grasping at straws.  If I had planned to get rid of Dave, then why did I come up with a third book, Forever Yours, which features him?

Owen: You stopped writing Forever Yours only 500 words into it.  You didn’t even make it past chapter 1.  I see you even took it off of the Works in Progress column on the right side of this blog.

Ruth: Yes, I did remove it for the time being.  The book isn’t ready to be written yet.

Owen: And could that be because you kidnapped Dave?

Ruth: Oh good grief.  Of course not.  I just wrote To Have and To Hold.  I might love to work with Dave in a book, but I need a break.  That doesn’t mean I kidnapped him.  I even sent everyone in Forever Yours a memo about it.  This happened long before March 9, by the way.  February 10 was the last day I wrote in it.  If I was going to kidnap Dave, it would have happened before March 9.

Owen: Or so you say.  Do you think this decision to put Forever Yours aside is why Dave created the Characters for Better Treatment Union?  I notice the post where he interrupted Lady Roderick to make the announcement for the union took place on March 6, just three days before his disappearance.  And on March 11, you made the public statement that Forever Yours was on hold.  And March 11 is very close to March 9 when he disappeared.

Ruth: But I had decided not to pursue it back in February.  

Owen: So why did it take so long to make the announcement?

Ruth: Because I had other things on my mind. 

Owen: Like kidnapping Dave?

Ruth: You’re really getting annoying, Owen.

Owen: Hmm…  It doesn’t take much to annoy you, does it?

Ruth: I’m through with this.  I have Her Heart’s Desire to finish up.  I’m in the last chapter now.  I have no idea where Dave is.  I didn’t kidnap him.  For all I know, he’s off somewhere pouting and hoping we give him a lot of attention because he craves it.  I think this is all a ploy.

Owen: We’ll see.  In the meantime, don’t leave town.  I need to be sure I can contact you.

Ruth: *rolls eyes* Oh goodie. *runs off to write  for Her Heart’s Desire.

Owen Russell was born and raised in Baton Rogue, Louisiana where he became an expert fisherman.  In 1876, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and through a series of unanticipated events he became the deputy under Sheriff Meyer.  To this day, he is still a deputy, a job he not only loves but is dedicated to doing.

Sidenote: While this character lives in the 1800’s, for the sake of this blog (and the fact that I couldn’t find a picture that served as a good fit for that time period), I picked a picture of him with a laptop.