The Sun Down Motel

Carly learns the Cathy Caldwell case has a following online. Carly asks Heather about Victoria Lee, and Heather says the boyfriend was ultimately proven innocent. Heather says she can’t talk about these things anymore due to her mental health, and Carly apologizes. Heather heads to her room, telling Carly to look up Betty Graham: When she’s done she can help herself to Heather’s meds. Carly thinks about the types of women Betty, Victoria, and Cathy are. She realizes that Viv had seen Betty while working at the Sun Down. Carly thinks about what Jenny said about Viv seeming distant and moody and realizes that Viv was searching for answers.

Carly goes to the Archive Room at the Fell Library to read more articles. She wonders if the same man killed Cathy, Betty, and maybe Viv. Callum greets Carly and tells her the library is closing soon. Callum asks how the search for her aunt is going and if she would join him for dinner. Carly says she can’t because she has an appointment with Alma Trent. He asks to join her, but she says it’s not a good idea. She avoids Callum as the library is closing and goes to her car, where she listens to the voicemail from Alma.

Alma is retired but agrees to meet with Carly. Carly texts Nick, asking him if he is up and telling him she’s going to see Alma. She doesn’t want to go alone, but Nick isn’t answering. Callum is still outside the closed library watching her. She looks at him and he smiles and waves; she drives away feeling uncomfortable.

Alma lives in an old farmhouse. Alma says that Carly looks like Viv. Carly suggests that maybe Viv isn’t dead since a body was never found. Alma says she is displeased by how long it took for anyone to realize Viv was gone and that nobody was paying attention. Carly asks Alma about the phone records Jenny mentioned. There were phone calls on the billing records that Viv didn’t make. Alma says she doesn’t remember and that Jenny didn’t know Viv very well.

Alma remembers feeling worried about Viv working at the Sun Down. Jamie Blaknik was a regular at the time and sold pot there. Alma says Jamie was at the motel the night Viv disappeared, but Alma questioned him herself and he wasn’t guilty of anything. Alma explains that as the only woman police officer during that time she was forced to do night shifts.

Carly asks where she can find Jamie Blaknik, but Alma says that he died in a car accident. They discuss the boy who was injured in the pool as well as Janice and Chris. Alma says she was on call when a man named Henry died in the office of a heart attack. A woman named Brenda Bailey was staying at the Sun Down the night Viv disappeared, but she was an alcoholic and has since passed away. Carly makes a note of Brenda Bailey and asks about the night clerk before Viv. Alma says it was Johnny, but he’s in his seventies and living in a retirement home in New Jersey. Carly thinks it’s hopeless and she isn’t getting anywhere. Alma tells Carly there’s no connection between the three murder cases and Viv. Carly mentions Nick Harkness suggested she meet with Alma. Alma says she always wondered whether Nick was really upstairs in his room like he said he was when his brother died. She is surprised he is back in town and tells Carly to be careful around him, but to tell him she says hello.

In Viv’s timeline, Viv finds her paycheck in an envelope from Janice. Viv wonders how long she could be absent from work before somebody noticed. She thinks about how long it’s been since she spoke to her mom, her sister, and Jenny. Nobody is at the motel, and she feels lonely and wishes Jamie Blaknik would show up. Marnie calls and says she drove past Simon’s house: It was dark, and his car was in the driveway. Marnie thinks the three murdered women aren’t connected, as they didn’t know each other or travel in the same circles. Viv asks Marnie what Betty’s injuries were, and she tells her. Marnie worries Viv is obsessed with the cases and needs a boyfriend. Marnie promises if anything were to happen to Viv, she would step in.

Viv smells the pungent cigarette smoke and knows it’s the ghost of Henry. She wonders who would look for her if she disappeared. Viv thinks about how when Betty sleeps, the motel sleeps, and when Betty is awake or angry, then the motel wakes too. Viv senses Betty’s presence.

The doors start opening one by one. Viv says Betty’s name. It’s windy outside. Viv wonders what she would look like as a ghost of the motel to a future girl. The ghost of Henry is sitting at the desk in the office. Scared, Viv hurries towards the pool. In front of the fence, a boy is sitting on the ground. He tells her that he doesn’t feel good. She tells him she can’t help him and she’s sorry. She passes the office and refuses to look inside.

Viv goes to the room she saw Betty in before. Betty is standing with her back to Viv, who can see Betty’s injuries. Betty asks Viv how she got these injuries. Viv says she doesn’t know and begs Betty to tell her who did it, saying she can fix it. Alma beeps from the parking lot. Alma tells Viv she was worried when she couldn’t find anyone in the motel office. The doors close, the lights turn back on, and the motel goes silent. Alma tells Viv to come down from the second floor so they can talk.

In Carly’s timeline, Nick enters the office with a six pack of beer, and Carly tells him she’s only 20. He tells her he got the six pack because he feels bad that he didn’t answer her texts earlier. She says it’s fine, and he takes a beer and hands it to her, apologizing for deliberately not answering. He asks what happened with Alma, and Carly remembers what Alma said about how he might not have been upstairs when his brother died. Carly feels guilty for telling Alma that Nick is staying at the motel because she knows Nick doesn’t want anyone bothering him.

Carly changes the subject and says that she found out the woman ghost is Betty Graham. Nick says that since Viv disappeared a few years later, the same person might have been responsible. Carly mentions Cathy Caldwell before admitting that she told Alma he is staying at the motel. Carly tells him she wondered about where he was during his brother’s death. Nick calmly says he knew he was a suspect at the time. He asks about the little boy ghost and the smoking man, who Nick says stands in the parking lot and watches his room.

Nick asks what they should do next as Heather walks into the office. Heather has a folder with printouts of message boards with photos of Betty, Cathy, and Victoria. There’s a fourth woman that Carly doesn’t know—a teenager named Tracy Waters. Heather explains that Viv disappeared the same night Tracy’s body was found: November 29, 1982.

In Viv’s timeline, Viv is tracking Simon Hess’s whereabouts and finds his car at the parking lot of Westlake Lock Systems. He looks around the parking lot as he stands by his car and then drives away. Viv reminds herself to be careful but follows him to a strip mall where she tracks him on foot. He catches a glance of her reflection as she watches him. She hurries to a bus stop to blend in with a group, and he hurries to the corner and looks in her direction. Viv stares at her notebook. When the bus arrives, she gets on the bus as he watches her. She gets off two stops away and pretends to sketch a scene from the walking path while watching Simon talk to a woman on a porch. He has a map of the neighborhood and goes door to door.

A man walking a dog greets Viv; she smiles but worries Simon might get away as they’re chatting. The man with the dog continues on, and Viv goes back to watching Simon, who is now following a 16-year-old girl on her bike. The girl rides away and Simon goes back to his car. Viv bolts back to her car to follow him, panicking as she can’t find the girl on the bike or Simon.

In Carly’s timeline, Heather and Carly go to Marnie Clark’s house. She shows them to her living room. Carly questions why Marnie was taking photos at the Sun Down. Marnie says the client’s name was Bannister. Marnie, unhappy with the girls’ persistence, gets the photos they’re requesting. The girls figure out after leaving that Marnie knows Viv even though she’s insistent that she doesn’t, leading Heather to wonder what Marnie is hiding.

In Viv’s timeline, Vivian is at her kitchen table with her notebook, certain that Simon Hess did all of the murders. She calls Westlake Scheduling pretending to be Alma Trent, but the woman on the phone doesn’t believe there is a female police officer. Viv makes up a story about break-ins on Peacemaker Avenue and says she’s wondering if any salesmen have seen anything. The woman says they haven’t had a salesman on Peacemaker Avenue since August the year prior, which Viv connects with Victoria Lee. The woman checks the schedule and says the name of the salesman who worked on Peacemaker Avenue has been erased for that date.

Viv calls Cathy’s mother and asks if she is happy with the locks she bought from Westlake two years prior. Mrs. Caldwell says the salesman convinced Cathy to buy them even though they were expensive. Cathy’s mother calls Viv a ghoul and says she can tell immediately if someone is fishing for information. She heard it all, yet nobody can say who killed her daughter. Cathy’s mother hangs up, leaving Viv in tears.

Viv picks herself up and meets with Marnie in a park downtown. Viv hasn’t been sleeping and Marnie says she looks terrible. Marnie tells Viv that Simon is back in Plainsview and that she quits: She isn’t sure whether he’s a murderer but it’s too dangerous to keep following him. Marnie warns that Viv will get hurt if she continues and makes her promise her that she’ll talk to the police. Marnie says she’s seeing someone who wants to marry her and she plans to start a family. Viv decides she’s going to Plainsview, and Marnie begs her to be careful and ready to defend herself. Marnie tells her not to be alone with Simon.

Viv goes to the high school and catches a glimpse of a car that looks like it could be Simon’s. She enters the school, finds a yearbook, and takes it. Viv asks the young guy at the hardware store if they carry anything she can defend herself with. He shows her a hunting knife and she buys it.

In Carly’s timeline, it’s snowing and dark. While at work, she gets an email from her brother, Graham, asking if she wants to spend Thanksgiving with him and his fiancée in Illinois. Carly reflects on what Thanksgiving was like when her mother was still alive. Thanksgiving brought something out in her mother that would drive her a bit crazy. Carly loves Graham, but they are in two completely different places in their lives. He’s 23 and almost married.

Carly looks at the photo Marnie took and notices the Sun Down has never changed. She hears the phone ring inside the office. Nick is there looking through the rest of Marnie’s photos and tells Carly that Heather’s on the phone. Heather says the two cars in the photos are Steven Bannister’s and Robert White’s, but there’s a third car belonging to Simon Hess. Heather says Simon Hess left on a sales trip sometime in late 1982 and never came home. His wife didn’t call the police. She declared him dead five years later to get insurance money.

Carly smells the smoking man and tells Heather she’s going to call Alma in the morning. Nick is looking at Marnie’s negatives. Nick talks about how his father planned his brother’s murder. His father had the gun for over a week and called the school to tell them they were taking a family vacation. Nick reiterates that he was in his bedroom, even though a lot of people questioned this. He still has guilt over the incident and can’t sleep. Carly says she bets he could sleep somewhere where he knew he’d have something good to wake up to.

Carly says they should talk to Alma the next day and see if anything should be turned over to the Fell Police Department. They need to find out more about Simon Hess. Nick notes that there are more negatives than prints. Carly is surprised. There are four photos in the negatives that she doesn’t have prints of. He says it looks like some kind of outdoor shot with trees. Carly says she’ll find somewhere that will develop old negatives, but Nick says he knows somewhere that’s open 24 hours.