Long Time Gone

Ryder Hillier hosts the podcast Unsolved, on which she breaks news stories about cold and unsolved cases. After the Westmont Prep killing, in which two prep school students were murdered in 2020, Ryder’s podcast exploded in popularity, and she signed a contract with a major streaming service.

Ryder depends on help from her fans, nicknamed Unsolved Junkies, to solve crimes, and one fan, Zoe Simpson, reached out with vital information regarding the famous Margolis disappearance. Though Ryder was hesitant to trust Zoe, she confirmed Zoe’s employment and fact-checked her information, finding that Sloan Hastings is Charlotte Margolis. Ryder boards a plane headed to Raleigh to try to interview Sloan.

Sloan looks up Stella Connelly online and finds that Stella is on leave from work. Though she finds Stella’s cellphone number, no one answers. Sloan gets coffee and bagels and heads back to Nora’s studio, where she is relieved to see Nora sitting alone.

Nora is excited to go through Annabelle’s photos, explaining that she gave Annabelle a camera the summer she disappeared. Annabelle did not want to be a professional photographer, but Nora has made a full business of it. She loves being an integral part of the community and explains how photography used to involve a lot of hope, since the photographer would not see the results until they developed the film. She explains how developing film works, adding that developing was Annabelle’s favorite part of photography. Nora takes Sloan’s picture and offers to show her how to develop film in a darkroom.

Ryder goes to Sloan’s home in Raleigh, prepares her microphone and camera, and knocks on the door. When no one answers, Ryder waits. Eventually, Ryder realizes Sloan is not coming home and decides to change plans.

Nora walks Sloan through the process of developing a photo, projecting the negative onto glossy paper before dipping it in a series of chemicals. As the photo appears, Sloan is impressed.

Nora and Sloan go through Annabelle’s pictures and make plans to see each other again later in the week. Sloan says she is seeing Reid and Tilly again soon and changes Nora’s contact in her phone to “Aunt Nora.”

Desperate for a break in the story, Ryder schedules a fraudulent dental appointment with Sloan’s mother. After Dolly examines Ryder’s teeth, she concludes that Ryder does not have any dental issues. Ryder reveals that she is a podcaster, gives Dolly her card, and asks if she would be willing to do an interview. Dolly refuses, but Ryder tells her that the mainstream media will twist the story to frame Sloan, Todd, and Dolly in a negative light. Dolly takes Ryder’s card.

Once Ryder figures out that Sloan is not in Raleigh, she finds out that Hayden is Sloan’s second-year fellow and goes to the OCME to find him. As Hayden leaves the building, Ryder approaches him, claiming to be Sloan’s friend from out of town. Hayden tries to trick Ryder by claiming Sloan went to Chapel Hill when she really went to Duke. Ryder does not fall for it, and Hayden admits that Sloan left town for a while. Ryder guesses that Sloan went to Cedar Creek and buys a plane ticket.

Before leaving Raleigh, Ryder films a video, asking the Unsolved Junkies for help finding Sloan.

After spending two days with Tilly and Reid, Sloan goes to Eric’s cabin. Though Reid and Tilly prodded for information about Sloan’s adoption and upbringing, Sloan got along with Tilly, despite what Nora told her.

At the cabin, Eric is excited, and he tells Sloan that he got files from the state police investigation of Preston and Annabelle’s home. In the crime scene photos, one image shows a large circle of blood in the kitchen, detected using luminol. The blood belonged to Annabelle.

Sloan feels a connection to Annabelle after learning about her life as a photographer, wife, and mother, so finding her blood is unsettling. Eric says the state police were considering Preston’s possible involvement. Preston and Annabelle’s relationship happened quickly, and if he felt trapped or wanted to leave Annabelle for Stella, he might have become violent. Sloan rejects this option, since she knows Preston loved Annabelle.

The state police photos also show that the house was fully packed and emptied, indicating that Preston and Annabelle might have left voluntarily. Eric suggests that Guy Menendez may be Preston’s fake identity, but Sloan doubts it. Sloan gets a call from Livia, who says that after looking at the files, she is sure that Baker was not killed by a car, and Sandy did not drown.

Livia explains to Sloan and Eric how the coroner’s report on Baker Jauncey is inaccurate. Baker was not killed by the car but by a baseball bat, and then his body was run over after he died. Sloan and Eric are shocked, and they quickly conclude that whoever killed Baker might also have killed Annabelle.

Regarding Sandy, Livia explains how the lack of water or blood in Sandy’s lungs indicates that he was already dead before entering the lake in his car. Sandy was killed by two massive doses of heroin, administered separately. Since the first dose would have been large enough to render Sandy comatose, someone else had to have administered the second dose, meaning Sandy was murdered.

Sloan and Eric exercise in his backyard, where he has a full CrossFit setup. After the workout, they agree that exercise helps take their mind off stress. Reviewing the evidence, they decide that the coroner who examined Baker and Sandy must have been hired to misrepresent the deaths. Since the blood in Preston and Annabelle’s home makes it seem like Annabelle was also killed, Sloan and Eric determine that all three murders are linked somehow. They watch a hawk fly over a nearby gorge.

Eric and Sloan go through the files until midnight, when they decide to stop because they have not made any progress. Sloan helps Eric pack up the files and gets ready to leave, but Eric stops her, saying it is not safe to drive in the mountains at night. Sloan agrees to stay the night in the guest room, and they thank each other for helping with the investigation. Though they get close for a moment, they say goodnight and go to their own rooms.

Sandy drives to Incline Village in Lake Tahoe, where he meets his friend Tom Quinn. Tom left Cedar Creek, studied finance in California, worked for the IRS, and then opened his own financial planning firm. Sandy explains Baker’s death, Annabelle’s car, and the falsified coroner’s report. He needs Tom’s help to understand the documents that Marvin thinks led to Baker’s death. Tom agrees, and Sandy brings him copies of the documents.

After looking through the documents, Tom explains how someone was embezzling funds from Margolis & Margolis. When the firm won a settlement for a client, the funds would be moved to a dummy account before issuing a check to an escrow account, from which the client would receive the money. However, someone was taking some of the funds from the dummy account and issuing only a partial check to the escrow account, covering the missing money as expenses. To date, this person has embezzled $5 million, which would explain why they would be willing to kill to keep their secret. The escrow checks are all signed by Guy Menendez, but neither Sandy nor Tom recognizes the name.