‘You’re on.’
‘Ask the mayor! Ask the mayor!’ the crowd shouted.
Constable Fiora’s voice blared from a megaphone. ‘The mayor is not required to answer your questions here. There’s a council meeting on Tuesday night. That’s the place to voice your concerns.’
‘We’re not leaving until we know the orchard’s safe.’
‘Everyone please disperse,’ Constable Fiora continued. ‘You’re trespassing.’
‘No, they’re not!’ Helen yelled. ‘This is shire land. It belongs to the community.’
The crowd roared their approval.
‘Councillor Leppart, please come down off the steps. Mrs Demetriou, release yourself and Mr Murphy and be quiet or I’ll charge you with disturbing the peace.’
‘Come on, Helen,’ Vivian said. ‘Once the police start using titles you know they’re serious. It’s not worth getting charged over this. The only person who wins is Geoff Rayson.’
Helen knew it was true. When Sergeant North arrived, he’d organise boltcutters to break the locks, she’d be arrested and the demolition would take place. The only way to protect Boolanga’s heritage, the garden that meant so much to the refugee women and the chance that one day this land would be a garden for rehoused women, was to reveal Ryan Tippett’s authorisation. She’d risk time in the lock-up for that.
She glanced at Bob. His smile not only warmed her, it was full of support and care. Sliding her hand into his, she squeezed and he returned the pressure.
Helen raised her free arm and pointed at Geoff Rayson. ‘Ask the mayor why he had me sacked and evicted from this cottage. Ask him why he’s demolishing it along with the garden and the orchard.’
‘Ask the mayor!’ the crowd chanted. ‘Ask the mayor!’
‘Jesus, Helen! Why?’ Vivian’s face contorted in an agony of frustration. ‘All you had to do was wait five days. Five days and we’d have got all four of them at the council meeting. But Rayson’s an expert snake and you just gave him a way to slither out!’
Helen’s heart pumped doubt as Vivian stalked down the steps to the mayor. She gesticulated widely and repeatedly pointed to Helen, but her lips moved too quickly for Helen to decipher what she was saying.
‘Have I done the wrong thing?’ Helen asked Bob.
But Bob was watching the mayor, who was holding his hand out to the constable. The younger man initially shook his head but after Geoff Rayson said something, he reluctantly handed over the megaphone. As the mayor raised it to his mouth, it squealed, silencing the crowd.
‘Mrs Demetriou, I understand you have an unfair dismissal complaint. If you release yourself, we can discuss your concerns in private.’
Helen saw the WIN News van drive in followed by a ute. ‘No, thank you. I want this conversation to be on the public record.’
The mayor’s amplified sigh rumbled in the warm air. ‘Until I speak with the staff in Human Resources, I can’t comment on your employment issues. But I can assure you and everyone here that your eviction was far from spurious. It was made out of safety concerns. The moment our engineer, Ryan Tippett, advised the wiring could start a house fire, we acted.’
‘After you made it worth his while to tell you the wiring was faulty,’ Helen called back.
Rayson stood taller, puffing out his chest. ‘I understand you harbour ill feelings about the termination of your employment, but that does not give you the right to make slanderous and utterly incorrect statements.’
Incensed, Helen held up the clipboard. ‘They’re not incorrect statements. Ryan Tippett’s signature is on this demolition notice to raze the entire block.’
The crowd called for an explanation.
Geoff Rayson pleaded for calm. ‘I can assure you, Ryan Tippett’s signature is on a notice to relocate the house to the historical society. Mrs Hooper can confirm that.’
‘I haven’t seen the paperwork,’ Tara said. ‘But Mr Tippett and I discussed the move and agreed it would take place next Thursday. Not today.’
A murmur shot around the crowd. Helen was relieved to see Jade was still filming out of sight of the constable.
‘Constable Fiora, can you please come and receive the evidence,’ she called.
‘This isn’t a court, Mrs Demetriou.’ But Fiora took the clipboard from her and walked it to the mayor and Vivian.
Geoff Rayson slid on his glasses and riffled through the papers, his brows pulled down in confusion. ‘This doesn’t make a lot of sense.’
Vivian, who’d been peering over his shoulder, said, ‘It’s an outrage! Council will investigate immediately. I give you my word we will get to the bottom of this.’
‘That’s more like it,’ Bob said softly.
‘Save our orchard!’ Judith yelled.
But Helen’s sense of uncertainty ratcheted up a few notches. ‘Something’s off. Clearly Rayson’s flustered so why didn’t Vivian go in for the kill and nail him? Instead, she’s just suggested exactly what she told me he’d say if I accused him.’
The mayor glared at Vivian and raised the megaphone. ‘The deputy mayor is jumping the gun. Everyone needs to take a deep breath. The only thing that’s going on here is an unfortunate mix-up. This is the old paperwork I cancelled when the decision was made to move the cottage to the historical society. But we’ve had a lucky save, so let’s give Mrs Demetriou a round of applause for being out early and asking the right questions.’
Helen stared at Bob. ‘He can’t be serious?’
‘He’s got that duffer persona down pat.’
‘Clever bastard.’
The television crew were filming and a journalist stood next to the excavator talking to Daryl and a younger man. A man who was the spitting image of what Helen imagined Daryl had looked like thirty years earlier.
‘The mayor might want to explain how he overruled a demolition order without bringing it to council?’ Vivian said to the crowd.
‘With a demolition order already in place and without any extra cost to the shire, I didn’t need to bring it to council.’ Rayson spoke through gritted teeth. ‘The only people benefitting from this decision are the citizens of Boolanga.’
‘Do you believe him?’ Vivian asked the crowd.
The excavator’s engine roared into life and everyone jumped.
Constable Fiora spoke into his radio as he
