Noah shrugged. “Start at the beginning. You and Lydia.”
“When Lydia and I were young, we got together. I was seeing someone else. I was a young attorney living alone. With no family to support, I had income to spare. My girlfriend and I decided we would buy a camper. Lydia sold us an RV. My relationship with that girlfriend lasted exactly one camping trip. I returned to Lydia to see if she’d take the RV back, and she sold me a bigger one. We traveled the country in it. Lydia got pregnant with Gabe. Then Amber. We got married at that point. Then came Eden. But after that, Lydia became…”
He drifted off.
“Lydia became what?” Noah prompted.
Hugo unfolded his hands and put them in his lap. He leaned against the back of his chair. “I think that the demands of motherhood were too much for her.”
“What makes you say that?” asked Josie.
“Why else would she leave?” Hugo answered. “I don’t know why she left the first time, when the children were small, but she did. At first, she continued to care for them when she could although they lived with me.”
“When couldn’t she care for them?” asked Noah.
“When her new husband didn’t want children around,” Hugo said. “And there were a few who felt that way.”
Josie said, “A ‘few’ husbands? How many times was she married?”
“Besides me?” Hugo said. “Five. We got remarried between husbands four and five, but it only lasted months.”
“You said you got divorced because she left,” Noah said.
Hugo shook his head. “It’s an oversimplification. We’d already been divorced for several years and she had moved on, getting married four more times, but we were together at the end. Before she left. We were patching things up. At least I thought we were.”
“How old were your children the first time you got divorced?” Josie asked.
“They were quite young. Eden had just started walking. Amber was a toddler. Gabe had just started school.”
“How old were they when you remarried?” asked Noah.
“They were all teenagers by then, but as I said, the second time only lasted months and then Lydia left again, this time to marry husband number five.”
“Did her other marriages end in divorce?” Josie asked.
Hugo nodded. “The last one died, I believe. Mr. Norris. I don’t know if they’re all still alive. It’s been years. You could look them up, although I don’t see how that is helpful in this situation.”
Noah said, “Do you remember any of their names?”
“Last names, yeah. Let’s see. There was Kleymann, Vawser, Purdue, and… let me think… Chasko, I believe.”
Noah said, “Amber told people that she moved around a lot when she was growing up. Was it because these husbands of Lydia’s lived in different places?”
“Yes. I tried to keep the kids close to her no matter what. Even if she didn’t want to see them, I wanted the option there for her and the kids to get together.”
Josie said, “Your wife left you, as you say, ‘broke with three kids,’ and you followed her around the state each time she remarried?”
Hugo nodded, lips pursed. “I know, it sounds crazy, but I thought it was best for my kids at the time. Like I said, the first time Lydia left, we stayed with my sister and they didn’t like having rules, so once I got on my feet, I made sure that my kids always had access to their mother. In retrospect, maybe I did more damage than anything, but I wanted the children to have a real relationship with her even if she was married to someone else. If we lived in the same town there was always more of a chance she would make time to come see them. It was probably foolish of me, especially since she ultimately disappeared, but I was a father, and I did my best.”
“Mr. Watts,” Josie said, changing the subject. “Does Russell Haven Dam have any significance to you or your family?”
“I’m afraid not. I don’t know anything about it except that my daughter just died there. Detectives, I’ve had a long day. I really need some time to process the news, especially about my dear, sweet Eden. I’d like to take care of her arrangements.”
Noah said, “That’s between you and Lydia and the hospital. If you contact the morgue, I’m sure they’ll be happy to help you. Again, we’re very sorry for your loss.”
“Do you have a number for Lydia?” asked Hugo.
Josie took out her phone and pulled it up. He took a pair of reading glasses from his shirt pocket and studied it before tapping it into his own phone.
“If you get her,” said Josie, “tell her we need to speak with her again.”
“Will do.” Hugo stood and began putting his coat on. “I think I’ll check into a hotel here for a few days.”
Noah said, “Before you go, I’m sure you understand that we’ve got to ask where you were on Monday morning around four thirty, five a.m.?”
Sighing, Hugo said, “Of course, of course. You need my alibi, right? Yes, this is a police investigation. Well, I was away in Florida on a golf trip with some friends. I flew down there a week ago and I just flew back in this afternoon. My return flight got canceled and I decided to stay a couple more days.”
“Can you provide us with proof of that?” asked Josie.
Hugo retrieved his cell phone from his coat pocket and showed them several emails containing receipts from his hotel, the airline, and the golf club. “I can forward these to you if you’d like.”
Noah rattled off his email and Hugo tapped it into his phone. Then he pocketed the phone and zippered up his coat.
Josie said, “Mr. Watts, you don’t think it’s strange that your sister was murdered two weeks ago and now your daughter, Eden, has also been murdered? At the same time your other daughter has gone missing?”
He met her eyes. “I’m not sure what you want me to say.”
Josie went on. “Is there some reason that a killer might target all the women in your family, assuming these crimes are all connected?”
“No, I can’t think of any reason,” he said.
Noah asked, “When is the last time you spoke with your son?”
“Gabriel? Not for years. I told you, he stopped talking to me ever since he joined that damn church. He’s become fanatical. It’s like a cult. He kept saying we could have a relationship only if I ‘unburdened’ myself and tried to ‘rectify’ my mistakes. No, my ‘sins.’ That’s what he called them.”
“The Rectify Church?” Josie said. “Run by Thatcher Toland?”
“Yes!” said Hugo. “Gabriel changed when he joined. He was never the same.”
Lydia had said the same thing. It might be the only fact that she and Hugo actually agreed on.
Noah said, “Do you have any reason to believe Gabriel would want to harm your sister and daughters?”