Free Gallows Hill by Margie Orford

waste, does it, Captain? Lifestyle audits,it’s enough to kill an honest cop. You know what these people spend?’
    ‘Tell me,’ said Riedwaan, as they walked down the street.
    ‘Their lunch bills alone are more than you and I earn together,’ said Rita.
    ‘We should have gone into politics.’
    ‘My skin’s not thick enough,’ said Rita. ‘And for all your Mr Tough-Guy Cop, neither is yours.’
    ‘You saying I’m soft?’ asked Riedwaan,as she pushed open the doors to the Deeds Office. A security guard directed them to an office.
    ‘It was sad the day honest became soft, boss,’ said Rita, knocking on the half-open door.
    ‘Come in,’ A woman’s crisp voice. ‘Can I help?’ she asked, smoothing down her black skirt. Her tidy four-thirty desk seemed to contradict her offer.
    ‘I need all the documentation you have on a site inGreen Point,’ said Riedwaan.
    ‘In connection with?’
    ‘This is a police investigation,’ said Riedwaan, showing her his badge. Nodding towards Rita, he said, ‘This is Sergeant Mkhize.’
    The woman glanced at the badge, glanced at Rita.
    ‘I want to know how a building got past the City’s heritage regulations,’ said Riedwaan. ‘It’s in a known conservation area, where archeological findshave been made before, where every time you dig a hole you find a skeleton. Why was the building allowed without any kind of assessment? It’s stirred a hornet’s nest that we have to sort out.’
    ‘I can’t imagine the Council would be at fault, Captain Faizal,’ she said, folding her hands.
    ‘If you fetch the plans and the permissions,’ said Rita with a smile, ‘we won’t have to imagine anything.’

    The clerk glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘We close in half an hour, Captain,’ she said. ‘Perhaps you’d like to come back tomorrow and speak to my supervisor?’
    ‘The plans come here?’ said Riedwaan.
    ‘They do, Captain,’ she said. ‘But only if people follow procedures.’
    ‘How do they not follow procedures?’
    ‘Well, you do get people who submit plans and then just go ahead withthe building work while the plans are with Council.’
    ‘Get me the documents,’ said Riedwaan. Rita nudged him. ‘Please. I want everything on that site since it was first surveyed.’
    ‘Okay,’ she sighed. ‘What is it?’
    ‘Gallows Hill,’ Riedwaan said. ‘Green Point.’
    ‘Come back in 20 minutes,’ she said. ‘I’ll have the copies for you.’
    ‘No, we’ll wait here,’ said Rita, settling intothe visitor’s chair.
    The clerk handed Riedwaan a thick folder. She picked at a hangnail as he flicked through the pages.
    ‘This file stops in 2010,’ said Riedwaan. ‘I need to go back a few years.’
    ‘The sale is not registered with us.’
    ‘This is a criminal investigation,’ said Riedwaan. ‘You can give me the documents now. Or I make your life really difficult, and you give them tome later.’
    ‘My supervisor said that we could not give you anything.’ She cleared her throat twice.
    ‘Call her in,’ said Riedwaan.
    Her eyes flicked from Riedwaan to Rita and back again. She saw no help from either of them. ‘She’s left for the day, and my instructions are that all correspondence about this is closed.’
    ‘On whose authority?’
    ‘I can’t tell you that,’ she said. Hereyes flashed.
    ‘What can you tell me?’
    ‘Just that this land was not owned by the City Council. Look, there is a letter in the file that might help you,’ she said, dropping her voice and handing over a piece of paper.
    Riedwaan scanned the document.
    ‘The land belonged to central government, not the City,’ said Riedwaan. He handed the document to Rita. ‘Recognise this name?’
    Ritaraised her eyebrows, and looked up at the woman standing in front of them.
    ‘No wonder your supervisor went home,’ said Rita.
    ‘Please take that and go,’ said the clerk. ‘If I get caught –’
    ‘It’s okay. We’re out of here,’ said Riedwaan.
    She watched