The Vital Minute
By Roger Ormerod
To Ken Beacham, Social Security Inspector, the question seemed quite simple: did Leonard Trent crash his car before or after contacting his Managing Director? On this simple fact rests the entitlement of his widow Virginia Trent to an Industrial Death Pension. But then the violent death of the Managing Director blurs the issue, and Ken Beacham finds himself investigating what could have been a murder. Steadily and insidiously, the background to Trent’s death absorbs him – as does his passion for Kaye Trotter, the last person to have seen Trent alive. Though his marriage is breaking down, and Kaye has introduced a new and unsettling version of the events leading to Leonard Trent’s death, Ken feels compelled to persist in his search for the truth. But could it cost him his wife, his job, and perhaps, Kaye too…?
