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Dennis waits for us in the lobby, instructing his replacement on how to proceed during the day.
“Are you ready, ladies?” he says upon seeing us, his deep voice nearly shaking the glass windows.
“Glad to have you as our babysitter, Dennis!” I reach up to place a hand on his shoulder.
“My pleasure!” he says with a broad smile, tapping my hand with care.
Next thing I know, we are in Helding Heights. Dennis is our driver and he parks in front of the familiar community center. Taking a good look around, he comments, “This is becoming a nice place. I grew up in this area, you know? Didn’t used to be this clean and well frequented. It has completely transformed.”
“Liv had a scare here, Dennis,” Martha says as I fumble with the camera “Dude pulled a gun on her.”
“He was just a kid,” I add, vexed to be reminded of that incident again. “Are we just approaching people on the streets?”
“That’s the plan,” Martha says.
“Okay, let’s go.” I open the door and climb out of the car.
Martha is the one who tackles the passersby while Dennis walks behind, watching over us. I notice that almost everyone is willing to answer some questions, but few are willing to have their picture taken.
A young lady with beautiful braids in her hair is Martha’s latest interest, and she seems happy to stop and chat for a while. However, when she sees the camera, her mood appears to sour, and she places both hands in front of her body, very defensive and aggressive.
“Please, don’t photograph me, miss,” she asks, strongly but still polite. “I don’t want Big Teddy targeting me.”
I raise an eyebrow. Martha looks from me to the girl, confused.
“Who’s Big Teddy?” she asks to both of us.
“He’s the big cheese around here, Martha,” I tell her.
“Nobody rules over him,” the girl says, sadly. “Big Teddy doesn’t want the neighborhood to change, so he’s shutting up everybody helping that billionaire guy doing work here.”
“Alex Winters?” I ask her, my heart skipping several beats.
“That one,” she points at me. “So… I don’t mind talking, but only if no one sees my name or my face.”
“Gotcha,” Martha says, “Well, I promise your identity will be kept a secret.”
“Thank you!” she touches Martha’s arm gently.
“Okay, I’m not going even to ask your name…” Martha continues and then asks her a range of questions. At the end, she says, “That’s it for the questions, you’re free to go.”
The girl leaves, and while Martha finishes her notes, I turn to Dennis, curious. “You grew up here, Dennis, tell me: did you know Big Teddy?”
Dennis crosses his arms and nods, looking like a genie about to give a wish. “Back then, Big Teddy was just Theo. We went to school together. But he dropped out at sixteen to sell drugs, and the rest is history. I got my family out of here because of guys like him,” he says.
“And why wouldn’t he want the neighborhood to change?” I continue my questioning.
“Why would he?” the man shrugs. “If people don’t have access to things, if people don’t have hope, they will resort to robbery, guns, drugs, and violence to plug the hole. And that is where his profit comes from.”
I nod, now deeply troubled.
“I need to make a phone call…” I announce, taking my phone out of my pocket. “Please pick up. Please pick up!”
“Hello?” it’s Alex’s voice, calm and velvety as always.
“Hi, Alex!” I start cheerful, fully knowing things will take a somber turn. “I have bad news for you…”
“What could it be, Liv?” he asks, interested.
