When No One Is Watching

Theo returns home and contemplates staying in Kim’s room when she leaves, as it has two air-conditioning units to his one fan. Kim is currently packing a suitcase to go to her parents’ house. She tells Theo that he needs to be gone once she returns. Theo spent all his savings on the house, so he has nothing left with which to move out.

Theo reads an email from Sydney with drafts of her historical tour as he drinks Kim’s wine. He accidentally falls asleep and when he wakes, he sees that someone is typing notes between the paragraphs on one of Kim’s documents. The messages reveal that the sender can see what Theo is doing, but he quickly realizes that Sydney is not the one behind them. Theo sees a light in Mr. Perkins’s house and is concerned because he is typically asleep at this hour. He watches Mr. Perkins enter a room with a look of surprise, and two shadows move. The lights go on in Terry and Josie’s house, the light goes off in Mr. Perkins’s house, and Theo blacks out.

Sydney wakes from a bad dream, groggy from Ambien. She checks her phone and discovers that she texted her ex-husband during her haze. She also missed a call from lawyers, but when she calls back, the receptionist tells her there isn’t anything more that the attorney can do for Sydney’s mother—especially considering her outstanding payment. A white man appears at the door, claiming he needs to check the meters. But when Theo appears, the man runs off; Theo and Sydney watch the man drive away in a van with no Con Ed logo or license plate. Theo asks Sydney if she’s seen Mr. Perkins and tells her that he’s worried something happened to him. They run into a new neighbor, a college student named Melissa. She tells them that she saw a woman claiming to be Mr. Perkins’s daughter bring him to the hospital the previous night. Sydney finds this suspicious because Mr. Perkins’s daughter lives in D.C. She and Theo go to Mr. Perkins’s house and are surprised to find new security cameras installed on his doors. Ms. Candace, a Black neighbor who runs an elderly care program called the Day Club Crew, passes by and tells them that she heard Mr. Perkins left to help with his grandchildren. Theo suggests that they interview the people in her care for the historical tour. Sydney realizes she hasn’t heard from Drea; she sees Drea typing, but the latter doesn’t reply.

Sydney asks Theo about his job search, and he tells her the truth: He lied about his educational background on his resume, which is limited to a GED. When his lie was discovered, he was fired. Kim never knew this, having broken up with Theo for a different reason. Theo is relieved to have someone to talk to but realizes he’s “going to have to be more careful. Because there’s the truth and there’s the truth, and Sydney’s smile is enough to make me think about telling her the latter” (173).

Sydney and Theo go to a local church to gather information for the historical tour. Kendra Hill, the church historian, confirms that the church looks like a school because it used to be a school that served Black children. She describes the ebb and flow of the neighborhood’s demographics. She shares a map with red marks on properties that banks once deemed bad investments, thereby giving them the opportunity to withhold loans for Black residents. The three reflect on the same process happening in the present; Kendra’s landlord sold the church because she couldn’t afford the rising rent. This news upsets Sydney, and she asks Theo for some time alone. Theo reflects on him and Kim’s purchase of their house, realizing that it was easy because the realtors want white people in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, posts on OurHood discuss Mr. Perkins, who has yet to return home or answer his phone.

In search of legal representation, Sydney visits a legal nonprofit—but the overworked center asks that she come back, preferably with her mother. Sydney notices a police car in the neighborhood, slowly circling the blocks. She goes to the local bodega and is surprised to see it’s closed; she thinks she hears suspicious noises inside. Drea has still not responded to Sydney. Back at home, Sydney opens an envelope from Drea containing information on VerenTech. The message dictates that VerenTech has full permission to access the information of anybody questioning their development. It also reports that VerenTech is looking to collect tax subsidies of upwards of a billion dollars. The envelope contains city planning details for the neighborhood around VerenTech’s new campus, and Sydney can’t recognize any of it: The sketches of the citizens of this new neighborhood are all white.

Sydney hears a door slam upstairs. She investigates, assuming a breeze blew through an open window; however, there is only a breeze because Drea’s air-conditioning unit is missing from her open window. Sydney observes a stain on Drea’s bed, one that looks like dried blood. Upon closer inspection, she realizes the stain is actually a clump of bed bugs. She tries to calm down, as “the bite of restraints against my wrists isn’t something I want to feel again” (193). As Sydney cleans Drea’s room, she finds a deposit slip for 50,000 dollars. She is shocked by the name on the deposit slip—VerenTech. She tries to relax with a bottle of wine as she waits to hear from Drea. Meanwhile, OurHood posts report neighbors getting visits from strangers who insist on inspecting their homes. Josie responds that it’s a normal process used to determine property taxes.

Theo researched the Dutch West India Company and discovered that their charter included economic warfare: They owned slaves until laws forbade it, then went on to control banks. He notices that Sydney looks exhausted. Sydney and Theo go to Ms. Candace’s house to meet with the Day Club Crew. Despite its rundown exterior, Ms. Candace’s house is beautiful on the inside. The Day Club Crew tell stories from the 1970s, including that of a blackout that led to looting. One of the members, Paulette, accuses the government of purposefully shutting down the power so people would loot and the government would have to come in and restore their version of order. Paulette turns to Theo and accuses him of lurking around at night and watching the residents. Meanwhile, a post on OurHood announces an emergency board meeting.

Sydney feels sick after meeting the Day Club Crew. She and Theo head to the bodega for cold drinks. The bodega is open and renovated, but the owner, Abdul, is gone. In his place is a white man, Tony, who tells them that there was an issue with Abdul’s paperwork. When Sydney tries to buy a drink, Tony inspects her twenty-dollar bill for authenticity and gives her incorrect change. Theo demands that Tony give Sydney her proper change, but Tony instead gives the change to him. Sydney is frustrated that Theo put her in a tense situation with someone who could have called the police. She still hasn’t heard from Drea. Sydney overhears Josie teaching her son to use feces in soil to grow something new.

Sydney gets a call from young Len, who has been hanging out by the community garden with other neighborhood children. He tells her that police officers told them to vacate on order of the owner. When Sydney shows up, she sees a construction crew inspecting the garden with police officers. One of the men tells her that he bought the lot from the rightful owner. Sydney’s mother had scoured records for proof of an owner, but everyone thought the city owned the garden as a former dumping ground. The new owner shows Sydney a deed that is clearly doctored. When she challenges him, he grows angry and threatens to beat her up—with the police watching in amusement. Sydney stands helpless as the construction crew begins to uproot the garden’s plants. She calls her mother, but whoever answers doesn’t speak.

At the gym, Theo runs into BVT real estate agent William Bilford again, who is disappointed that he didn’t call him about getting a job. William says he knows Theo needs money and a place to live; Theo assumes Kim told him about their situation. On his way to check on Sydney, Theo runs into his neighbor Terry. Terry offers a room in his house for rent and makes degrading comments about Theo having sex with Sydney. Theo makes it to Sydney’s and notices how upset and run down she is. She asks him to tell the truth about his job loss.

Theo tells her that his real name is Fyodor, after his father who was involved in mafia business. He worked for his father for some time, then lied his way into his corporate job—where he sold cocaine to his coworkers. Then, Theo started stealing money from client bank accounts.

Sydney tells Theo her truth: She and her ex-husband Marcus got married and moved to Seattle for his job. She had a hard time getting a job, and Marcus started emotionally abusing her. Meanwhile, her mother started having health problems and had to cut down on work hours, which put her in debt. Her mother signed on with a company that started calling her about debt relief. The company would pay her debt on the condition that they would own the house upon her death. Sydney had promised her ailing mother that she wouldn’t let the company take the house. She went on to bury her mother in the community garden.