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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47697
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Always try, at least for yourself, to give motivations to any character for behaving a certain way.

Why is A the way he is? Should the reader know this?

Here are some ideas for making a change, such as the one you describe, 'realistic'. From what you write, it seems to me that A is a person in power; like a cop, agent of some sort.

1: Before the interrogation, A has an idea about how things are going to turn out - he's proven wrong, but, knowing that it is risky for him to aid (and that being 'selfless', unlike him), he simply suggests a few ways that B can help himself. This could also go in the direction where A tells other people to do (something) to help B.

2: Before the interrogation, A has gotten the impression of B from _someone else_, C; maybe a co-worker or boss. Realizing that the impression/understanding was incorrect, he then doubts the perspective of C and perhaps starts suspecting that C has been wrong before - making him reevaluate previous actions, etc. that he has executed based on C's directions. This could be a realization big enough to change how he behaves from that point on. His first move in that direction could be to actively help B himself.

In both examples, the 'case' could remind him of previous experience, where his lack of help lead to someone getting hurt, or similar.

Original score: 3