Rippleswade Hall, page 7
109.
The three medical people had carefully gotten Peter onto the stretcher and were wheeling him slowly back to the ambulance with Andrew walking behind holding his bag. Instinctively, both NTD and myself followed as well. Truthfully, we straggled behind, uncertain as to what we should do next. To my surprise we were gently holding hands. For a few moments of my life I was Lord Rippleswade and the strange thing was I was hard as a rock.
110.
NTD asked Andrew, “Is there anything we can do? Shall I follow you in the car?” Andrew was quite emphatic. “No, there is nothing you can do, it is probably best to stay here. I will go with Peter in the ambulance and call you when there is news.”
111.
It took some time for me to begin to calm down and I recall realising that dusk was falling and that I was on my own in the kitchen. There was certainly a temptation just to leave, to go out to my car and go home, however this did not seem appropriate or proper somehow and rather reluctantly my thoughts turned to trying to find NTD. The other more practical point was that I needed to sober up and I therefore filled and set the kettle which was near the sink. At this point I felt very drunk but could not have had more than 3 glasses of champagne. That in itself began to make me feel very uncomfortable. Coffee would sober me up but also keep me awake and I therefore resolved to make some tea. On reflection, coffee would have been much better but then I could not really expect to be thinking clearly under all the circumstances.
112.
Because I had only seen NTD make coffee before it was necessary to begin looking in the cupboards and drawers for a mug, teapot and tea. It took me some time to realise that the ornate Oriental wooden box near the kettle was an old Chinese tea carrier. There must have been 12 different varieties of tea, some in their original packaging and some just in bags. In short, I made a pot of tea but it was only as I began to pour the hot water from the kettle into the teapot that I realised my hand was shaking, quite violently and uncontrollably. My instinct was to put the kettle down and to use my left hand to clutch the pot and use my right hand to try and steady the pot as I tried to pour it out; but to my surprise both hands were shaking just as much.
MAN SEES DEVIL AND GOES INTO SHOCK.
113.
Some of my thoughts were still rationale – realising that I would spill tea everywhere if I tried to take it to the table, I took one of the chairs and placed it near the sink and sat down. For the second time that evening I began to feel faint, lightheaded and very weak. I began some breathing exercises, something learnt during meditation classes many years previously. Breathe in slowly through the nose – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Hold the breath – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Then exhale though the mouth – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Breath in slowly through the nose – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Hold the breath – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Then exhale though the mouth – counting one, two, three, very slowly. This began to calm me and the shaking became more controllable. The tea was cold by the time I took a drink.
114.
For the first time that evening it occurred to me I should call my wife. Once I am heading home I would normally call her and tell her when she could expect me home. But on this occasion this did not seem a good idea – tell her everything, tell her nothing, tell her something in between? The hostess is drunk/drugged and missing – the butler/man servant has been taken to hospital in an ambulance. Oh yes and I just saw the Devil on the branch of an Oak tree crouching above a gently swinging noose! Without uttering a word these thoughts began to make me agitated and I began the breathing exercises again. Breath in slowly through the nose – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Hold the breath – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Then exhale though the mouth – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Breath in slowly through the nose – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Hold the breath – counting one, two, three, very slowly. Then exhale though the mouth – counting one, two, three, very slowly.
115.
My focus turned once again to finding NTD. In her state she could be anywhere – maybe she needed an ambulance as well. It was dark outside as I began to re boil the kettle to make hot tea, now in a slightly calmer state. Where could she have gone to? Could she still be outside? If so, it was too dark to start looking for her. I know I tried to calmly rationalise when and where I had last seen her. This simply made me more agitated again – the last time I could remember seeing her was outside by the table when the ambulance took Peter away. Could she have gone in the ambulance with Peter? That made sense but then I was sure I saw her walking slightly unsteadily back to the kitchen as the ambulance began to drive away. She beckoned me with her hand to follow, a slow gentle gesture and she knew I had seen it, as she turned straight away and walked into the kitchen. But then what?
116.
For some reason, the first place that seemed sensible to try was the Retreat. We had been there before as described in some detail above. But could I find it again? The main hall and stairs were lit, but I had no recollection of anyone turning on the lights. With a little difficulty I began to take the stairs and before I got to the first landing I heard a muffled sound, from which at the time I was certain came from somewhere upstairs. I called out her name and for some reason I used her surname “Mrs Trewelyn-Digby” instead of Natalie. Somehow that familiarity did not seem appropriate anymore. I heard the sound once more as I got onto the first floor landing but it was impossible to say what it was, or from where it came. There was no lighting on in the upstairs hallway and it took me a little while to locate the light switch.
117.
[Note to reader – begin playing Low Deep T-Feelings 4 U – as loudly as possible] It seemed to dawn upon me that my search for NTD needed to be systematic and methodical. I could spend hours roaming the floors. So although I felt reasonably certain that the sounds had not come from there I began by looking in each of the rooms of the first floor. It was in the third room that I entered that whatever it was that I had been drugged with began to kick in – and my word it kicked in. The effect came over me very quickly and became very pronounced within a minute or so. The wall-paper in the room came alive with an energy and light I had never experienced before. The crown symbols in dark red stepped off the wall and began to move rhythmically to the extremely loud music that had begun to play. And then there he was, a big black singer who sounded just like Barry White, only singing something more modern – a booming base voice that came straight from his soul – and there he was in the room – singing. “Feelings, feelings for you babe. Feelings, feelings for you, babe. Feelings, feelings for you, babe. When I met with you, babe, always thought I knew, babe everything I had to do to make you stay. Now you’ve gone away, oh it’s not a happy day, baby. I guess I never did enough to make you stay. Want to let you know I never did enough to make you stay. I want to let you know I still got feelings for you baby, never gotten over you. Feelings, feelings for you babe, I still got feelings for you, baby.”
118.
And there I was dancing crazily in front of this man singing “Feelings, feelings for you, babe, I still got feelings for you.” The beat was intense, hypnotic and I just kept moving. Dancing, moving, dancing in a way I had never danced before, to music I had never listened to before. But I liked it.
119.
Although the birth is as clear and real to me as this paper and biro that I clutch, it seems likely that I may have to accept that there was no birth of a baby on 21 June 2014. However, I maintain that I believe NTD gave birth whilst the music was playing and the frenzied party ensued in the upper rooms of Rippleswade Hall. NTD moved very slowly to the music, and as I began to move more quickly she began to hold her midriff and twice bent over double and gave a silent scream. Although by this stage the music was so loud she could well have screamed the room down, it just would not have been heard over the music. As the song played on the line “Still got feelings for you baby” was repeated over and over again and as they were, NTD collapsed into the far corner of the room, by the small lamp table, the lamp was knocked over but was still working, and lying on the floor as it did, it had the effect of illuminating the birth in a most peculiar way. “Still got, still got feelings for you babe.” NTD was slouched in the corner with her legs wide apart, knees raised and wrists resting uncomfortably on the knees. Her hands kept moving from on her knees to pushing hard downwards on the floor and then flying up to her head as if trying to release a vice gripping her temples.
120.
The baby almost flew out and within seconds was wrapped in a blanket and was being rocked by NTD in time to the music. It was a boy but I cannot tell you how I knew that, with a full head of red curly hair and despite the music and the dancing the baby would not take its eyes off NTD. She just sat in the corner gently rocking and it seemed to me she was crying very gently but very deeply. There was a lot of blood flowing onto the carpet and the way it was illuminated by the fallen lamp made it look like a river delta, beginning in her womb. At some point, as she continued to rock the baby, Satan knelt down in the blood and stroked the baby’s hair, leant forward and kissed his forehead then took him up in his arms and carried him away. NTD just kept rocking and crying and her arms were in a position as if she were still holding the baby. Without an explanation the blood disappeared and NTD took my hand – rose up and began to dance as if nothing had happened. It was some time shortly after this that I must have collapsed.
121.
It is stated that the police evidence is incontrovertible – there was no birth on 21 June and of course there was no baby. It was never my intention that NTD would have to be medically examined and her reported distress of having to undergo such an examination is equally distressing to me. But I will go to my grave knowing I saw what I saw. Whatever happened to me that night, be it a psychotic episode as some have suggested, or drug induced hallucination, that is what I saw.
122.
I must remain candid and state here that it remains possible in my mind that the birth I believe I witnessed was real. I cannot say otherwise. So much happened that night it would be foolish to dismiss anything out of hand. On the one hand you have a delusional old fool and on the other a highly reputable police team with specialist crime scene investigators. I am not a fool and I can well see my predicament. I have seen the medical evidence and it is clear that NTD did not give birth that night; nor indeed any other night it is never easy proving the negative. I can prove I am married by producing a birth certificate. Proving I am not married is a whole different matter. All of this I well understand.
123.
As referred to above, I must have collapsed at some stage, because from dancing with the singer the next thing I remember is waking up very groggily face down on the carpet next to a chaise longue in a completely different part of the Hall with my mouth resting on a high heeled shoe. The music and the words were still pounding in my head and I will never know for certain whether the music was in fact still playing. As I began to regain consciousness all I could focus on with the music still pounding was whose shoe it was that I had been dribbling on. It was very difficult to get up and for some time I just lay there with my eyes closed and feeling very thirsty. It was whilst I lay there that the coil repeatedly consumed my thoughts like a feverish dervish. The coil subsumed everything else. The coil became all. At that time I could not say where in the coil I was. That troubled me, but I could see the coil very clearly. The coil was the solution to the universe, no more, no less.
124.
As I very slowly and gingerly rolled onto my back it became apparent that I had lost all my clothing bar my boxer shorts and socks. Barely conscious, nearly naked in a part of a client’s house I should probably not have been in, it slowly began to make sense to get out of there. But I could hardly return home in my boxer shorts and socks and tell Joanne what an interesting evening it had been. A new search began – this time for my clothes. But first I had to have water.
125.
The room in which I found myself was, I believe, NTD’s bedroom. There was a door within the room that led into a very luxurious en suite bathroom, with a fireplace, free-standing bath, a black marble power shower, a sink and bidet. The chrome towel warmers were super sized and the whole room sparkled as though it were just recently installed. Water never tasted so good but as I washed my face and looked into the mirror above the sink I could see that there was dry blood in my mouth. That frightened me. I rolled my tongue around my mouth and could find no sensitive area, nothing to indicate from where the blood might have come. I could only conclude that it was not my blood and that gave me some comfort.
126.
The bathroom cabinet mirror opened and had a small cabinet behind it and amongst the various items was some mouth wash. As I replaced it I began to look more closely at some of the other items – mainly tablets in small brown plastic bottles with prescription labels all made out in the name of NTD. There were bottles of Depakote, Lithium, Aricept, and Klonopin. All the prescriptions were made out in her name, for the first time it occurred to me that all may not be what it seemed with NTD, she clearly had problems.
DUCCHESS SEDUCES SATAN
127.
Something moved in the bedroom, I heard a noise and this startled me, so I left the en suite quickly, assuming it was NTD. Never before I have been so relieved and then so shocked. NTD was in the bed and lying under her was the Devil. They were either wrestling or making love but under her, pinned or being seduced was the Devil. NTD looked up at me but she did not seem surprised or bothered, indeed it was not clear that it had registered for her that I was in the room, she looked half conscious, her eyes were barely open and her hair was even more tousled now. She was sitting on the torso of Satan and her hands grasped his arms and had them pressed to the bed. The scene was strangely arousing. NTD was wearing an unbuttoned mans shirt and it was then that I noticed that the Devil had blood in his mouth and seemed to be grinning or maybe he was grimacing.
128.
I must have passed out again because when I regained consciousness NTD was kneeling beside me trying to revive me. She was still wearing the shirt I had seen her in earlier but now it was partially buttoned. She had cupped my neck in one hand and had a glass of water in the other. She spoke to me in a very calm and soft way, “Mr Whibley, are you alright? Please, try and drink some water.” As I came round I realised to my horror that I was still only wearing my boxer shorts and socks.
129.
It is highly doubtful that I was fit to drive but nevertheless it is the case that I left Rippleswade Hall by car. I must agree that there was then a large gap in my memory of what happened the following morning. I can recall getting into my car and I recall that as I pulled away NTD stood in a barely buttoned shirt waving an arm and sat next to me in the car was Satan, gently holding the red-haired baby. That I can clearly remember. Everything else is a blank until I pulled up into the car park at The Vulcan & Griffin. It was my local, approximately 25 minutes drive from where I live. I got out of my car in the car park just before midday but the drive from Rippleswade Hall should have taken no longer than 2 hours (even accounting for heavy traffic) and I had left just after dawn. There are therefore approximately five hours unaccounted for – perhaps I was driving around, although that is highly unlikely as I still had a quarter tank of petrol. What was clear was that Satan was no longer with me.
130.
I have frequented The Vulcan & Griffin for over 30 years, often stopping for a drink before getting home after a site visit. The owner is a Mike Swain, a convivial Dublin publican. Nadia has been a barmaid there for three years or so and there is no denying she is extremely attractive with a tendency to dress provocatively. She has a stunning figure so some may argue it would be difficult to not dress provocatively. There were various rumours that she was having an affair with Mike, that she was married back in the Czech Republic, that she had three babies all of which she had sold. In short, Nadia is a beautiful eastern European girl with strawberry blonde hair, green eyes and a beautiful figure. On the morning I am describing she was wearing black leggings, boots and a baggy white tee shirt with some black and white picture and some printed words I cannot recall on it.
131.
I still fail to see that what allegedly did or did not happen at The Vulcan & Griffin that morning has anything to do with NTD and the allegations that have been made against me. It may be that I did fall or stumble as I walked from my car to the Snug entrance but I have no recollection of knocking my head. If someone did see that happen then all I can say is that it might have happened. At the end of the day it was Nadia who put her arm around me first, I am not an old fool and if she did that it was in all likelihood to steady me or support me. If I misinterpreted that gesture, there were some highly extenuating circumstances.
