The Psychopath: A True Story(38)

Will Jordan continued to spin his tale to Mischele, saying that his sister-in-law had then fabricated evidence that Will had molested a girl under the age of thirteen and got him arrested. He said that his wife knew it was happening but realised too late that she had just ruined her meal ticket. Social services even ended up being suspicious because although his wife and her sister were calling him names to start with, Will’s wife still wanted to take him back after his conviction.

Will made it all sound so plausible – that he was the victim of an elaborate charade – but declined to mention why he had pleaded guilty to the crime.

Will explained calmly and logically that the whole story was rubbish but that he had had to go through a whole three-year litany over it. He had been furious about having even been accused of molesting a minor. He would have left his wife at the time but it was cheaper to stay. He admitted that having affairs with the successive nannies was to some extent his bit of revenge for that.

He then explained how one nanny had had two children by him and he would have continued that relationship and run off with her, but then his wife had taken over and befriended the nanny so that she couldn’t take him away, bringing her into the house to raise all the children together.

Mischele showed him a montage of photographs I had given her of ten of the children.

Mischele: ‘I do have to say that you make beautiful small midgets.’

He just looked at it silently, not touching the iPad and then tapped the table with both hands.

Mischele: ‘These two look like they could be twins. I can’t pronounce her name.’

Will: ‘Eilidh.’

Will just said that it was sad and that he couldn’t connect with that, because what could he do?. How could he go there? After a bit more prodding by Mischele, he started to imply that he was more involved with the children than he let on. He said that leaving them was not a decision he had taken lightly, nor was it one he had made by himself. He hinted at writing and talking to someone in the UK and said that he knew everyone was OK. He said that he did ‘things’. Most specifically, he stated outright that ‘multiples of seven figures was left, for people to do whatever’, clearly talking about money. He couldn’t be part of the children’s daily lives because that was not what other people would let him do and he didn’t have the ability to argue with them. What’s more, it would only have put them in an awkward position.

He hinted that he had sent birthday cards but that he suspected that the children never got them.

He feigned annoyance when Mischele asked about the abuse victim falling pregnant by him when she was twenty-one years old. This was something his ex-wife had told Mischele. With regards to the abuse victim, he said that she had left home at sixteen and got a Pakistani boyfriend. Will said that he was totally past it all now (meaning the sex offences conviction). That the abuse victim should have said, ‘All right, stop, I don’t wanna be a part of this.’ Instead she had helped spread more poison. He implied that he had been set up when the girl and her mother asked to meet and talk somewhere, and when he arrived they accused him of something else (presumably getting her pregnant). He had provided for the children and provided millions of dollars in education and support. He implied that his ex-wife had manipulated and controlled him – that she could use other things against him but that didn’t have the same effect as an accusation of paedophilia.

Will was talking in continually vague and confusing terms and not making a lot of sense. Mischele then moved on to talk about me.

Mischele: ‘So where did Mary come into all this?’

Will went on to explain that he had set up an office in Edinburgh with six or seven people working for him. He and his wife had bought a big house up there and had three kids by that time. He had then met me and really fallen in love. He said:

‘She was cute, she was incredible. She had a really good pep to her, she had good attitude. She was everything that [my wife] wasn’t. More importantly, she wanted a future, she didn’t just want [gestured money].’

So he was doing all kinds of different jobs and making money in order to separate from his wife.

Mischele asked if he had read my book, and initially he ignored the question. Later, however, he revealed more:

Will: ‘Well, I was also doing other jobs . . . And some of the things that Mary questions in her books – some of the jobs I was doing – like I said, not everything is a lie. Not everything is as far-fetched as it might seem. There was a lot of use that people have multiple passports . . . and chameleon wherever you have to adjust from. And quite honestly, at that stage . . . no real value about doing what needs to be done.’

It was word salad, but again hints that the CIA work was real and it revealed that he had indeed read my book. He described me as a ‘kindred spirit’ and also said there were things that he would just not be able to explain. However, he went into a detailed description of my life, almost all of it complete lies.

Will: ‘Forget the book for a second, forget the perspective that’s painted. You know how you have reacted to things like that. You know how you feel. And it is probably the same in this situation . . .

‘Mary came from a very well-to-do family. She was the black sheep. Her family were very respected in Edinburgh, her father was a VP at the BBC and her mum was actually Scottish royalty . . .

‘Scottish royalty doesn’t mean much because they are part of the UK now, but at some point in time it would have meant something. And up there it still does mean something because they are a very nationalistic type of people . . .