The Fork In The Road - Collected Short Stories 4

PAST REGRETS AND FUTURE FEARS – Michael Braydon owns a furniture manufacturing company.  When one of his customers goes into liquidation owing him over $100,000 he feels the bite and approaches the credit manager of his major supplier to arrange an extension of terms.  Unexpectedly for both of them chemistry kicks in and they start an affair.  The relationship is threatened by her boss who has his own agenda.

BREAKFAST ON THE SECOND MORNING – When Josh Reynolds and his wife Margaret take a cruise around the South Pacific as a break away from his insurance business they meet Angela Norton.  Angela is recovering from chemo treatment and Josh asks her if she had trauma insurance as she would probably have a legitimate claim.  His assumption is correct and on their return he helps with the paperwork to have the claim paid.  However, events take a turn for the worse when Angela's daughter Carolyn and her boyfriend Ray Clayton join the Reynolds and Nortons for a celebratory dinner.

SIGHT UNSEEN – When David Mansfield is retrenched he and his wife Samantha sell their home in the city and move to an acreage in the country with no debt and a profitable online business.  This new freedom provided the opportunity for them to indulge their passionate love of the movies and most nights they watched a selection from their thousand plus DVD library.  Little do they know their evening's entertainments are being watched over by Paul Newman, James Garner and Richard Crenna who decide to inject some wry amusement into the happy household.

MEMORIES IN DUPLICATE – Alexander Bateman saw the photo of the dead woman on TV who Crime Stoppers were trying to identify and he knew she was his wife Alison who had disappeared 20 years earlier.  He is referred to Detective Sergeant Stewart Messiter and in addition to identifying the body he confirms Alison's identity with all the relative documentation:  birth certificate, marriage certificate, and expired driver's licence and passport.  But, George Mills has done exactly the same and he has been married to the woman now in the morgue for the last 10 years.  Alex and George pool their resources to try to make sense of the mystery, but this is only the beginning of kidnapping and murder that spans two decades.

NOR ALL THY PIETY NOR WIT – Paul Flinders and Dave Patterson are fellow agents at an insurance company in Sydney.  When the industry changes Patterson buys an office and they share office space and expenses.  When, 14 years later Patterson drops dead of a heart attack all the lies and convenient half-truths emerge to impact upon many people.  Two possible forks in the road are explored.