1.
“Our sender also sent a, ‘good night nurse,’ which everyone seems to have missed, including our man Clegg
2.
What to do? Go to bed and think about it? No, go to bed and forget it and think about the case and the Clegg chronicles that were still unravelling after four days
3.
As would be expected the digit was one of ten removed from the corpse of Anton Clegg
4.
Rudolph was casting a wide net when involving the administration of Sir Alex Clegg with the inquiry with the killing of his brother, but his gut told him the connection was no coincidence
5.
He’d been asking himself over his bacon and eggs if this was the first threat received by Sir Alex and had Anton Clegg suffered a threat in any way?
6.
’ Further to that was a typed script proclaiming the steed as three times winner of the Auckland Trotting Cup, the sire of two Auckland cup winners, three New Zealand cup winners and an inter-dominion winner; seen with Lou Strong stud groom where he stands at his Clevedon home The Stables, the birth place of champions, owned by Sir Alexander Clegg
7.
Clegg is stable, but unable to speak
8.
“We must ask who other than Clegg and Tripp had access to the safe,” said Rudolph
9.
Who other than you and Anton Clegg has access?”
10.
Jazz - “And what of the other deceased, Lionel Bates? He was, shall we say ‘friends’ with Anton Clegg
11.
Would Clegg have given him access?”
12.
Jazz - “And when did you first learn about the large amount of money Clegg had placed there?”
13.
“Heaps of good stuff, like, for instance, the last will and testament of Anton Clegg
14.
“Which Clegg didn’t have
15.
Would a man like Anton Clegg pay extortion?”
16.
“Sale and purchase agreements for properties owned by Clegg, his companies, thirty seven of them make interesting reading
17.
Lease agreements and share certificates, trust account and cash ledgers, all equally boring; bank statements for several accounts, but more interesting perhaps, two New Zealand passports in the name of Anton Clegg and his known associate Larry Beckett
18.
So with Clegg’s blood in a locked safe and Clegg dead, or very much that way, it bears very much to reason that Clegg’s assailant is number contender for the action at The Stables
19.
Clegg was one of these and when he stopped running he obviously sprayed a fair amount of the stuff around
20.
“I see it the original target was one man, Anton Clegg, for a motive that has yet to be determined
21.
Anton Clegg and Bates are linked by place of employment and from what we have gathered by their sexuality
22.
Anton Clegg and the third deceased Lou Strong are linked by Strong’s position of employment with Sir Alex having been the subject of a sinister threat of death, extortion, blackmail, or any combination of the three
23.
We can find no evidence that Anton Clegg had been the subject of any such threat
24.
He came from Australia twelve months ago to work to work for Clegg
25.
It would seem the idea was to get Clegg into a restricted situation without incurring the wrath of Mighty Joe Young and to that extent they were successful
26.
Then to the job in hand which was the torment of Anton Clegg
27.
Never once did they meet, nor did Clegg ever become aware of his presence, but just the sight of the man in a public place or passing close in one of the Mercedes vehicles he owned released an almost uncontrollable rage within Greg
28.
A new car can only be a good thing and Clegg dead, even better
29.
A massive blaze in Mt Eden, where an entire block of professional rooms was razed to the ground, took second billing to historic footage of the Clegg Empire, depicting each brother at various functions throughout their illustrious careers
30.
The likeness of one to the other was incredible with Anton being a trifle bigger around the waist line and having maybe more hair than his sibling; or was it a rug? A perfect set of dentures fashioned the smile of Sir Alex Clegg whereas the perpetual sneer of his brother did little to conceal the same strong features
31.
It seemed everyone wanted to talk to Sir Alex Clegg and he was talking to no one
32.
“Is it in Scully’s power to take such action? Is that what Clegg wants?”
33.
Clegg lay propped on pillows in a white surgical gown in the centre of the bed, the coverlet raised to his armpits
34.
“So Strong was talking to Alex Clegg the day before his death,” mused Rudolph, “although that could be normal when you consider the nature of their business
35.
“He certainly would be the one with reason to call and it’s a vital question he needs to be asked since we can’t ask Clegg,” said the inspector
36.
He was a package deal courtesy of Anton Clegg
37.
Clegg was laid out in state like he was ready for the morgue, dead centre with three feet of bed on each side of him
38.
Alone, was a fallacy for Phil Rudolph, for the Clegg brothers had never been far removed from his psyche during every waking hour of this past week and the pressure would remain until the whole business was resolved
39.
Most were unhappy enough to accept something like fourteen cents in the dollar, but all still spitting blue flames these years down the track and all pointing the finger at Clegg
40.
“So they aren’t involved in the Clegg business?”
41.
He thanked Clegg and withdrew with Jazz, as the man closed his eyes in acknowledgement and resignation
42.
Tripp went with Anton Clegg to the bank to collect the money
43.
“Tripp said Clegg and Vatavai were inseparable
44.
“We need a paper trail on Matthau Vatavai for the week preceding his death and in particular the day when Anton Clegg was making his withdrawal of from the ASB
45.
Having taken possession of his wallet he gained much satisfaction from the cordiality of the afternoon; until just as he was ready to depart the convivial Sunday barbecue was transformed into an extraordinary general meeting of the Anti Anton Clegg Foundation, all by coincidence
46.
Sue always had a bag packed for such an occasion and when she retired to her room for a private moment it was a good opportunity for the two men to thrash out finer points of the whole Clegg debacle
47.
They got stitched by Anton Clegg
48.
‘Why would she quit her job in the middle of the night - where was her luggage – why was she returning to the property?’ He didn’t ask if his cousin’s disappearance was in any way connected to the mystery surrounding the Clegg brothers
49.
“And Anton Clegg, what was your arrangement there?”
50.
It also confirmed a private service funeral service for Anton Clegg was being held there at ten am followed by the cremation at Purewa Crematorium in Meadowbank
51.
“I’m wondering how Anton Clegg coped with the fact that his faithful servant Vatavai elected to change camps,” said Rudolph
52.
We’ve got to know what his movements were between then and the time he brought Clegg to the cold store
53.
“What was in it for him? Is there any record anywhere of what sort of a wage packet he was on with Clegg? I can only imagine it would have been something like ten times the average wage when you think of what he was and who he worked for
54.
Clegg, Sir Alexander Clegg
55.
Clegg didn’t have to be there
56.
“You are saying Anton Clegg sent Vatavai to collect the Hatfields? Why would he finance his own assassination?”
57.
Why would he? Because by my reckoning it was Anton Clegg who went to Malaysia and brother Alex who met his end in the cold store
58.
Until lunch time today I was satisfied it was Anton Clegg laid out in that bed in Clevedon playing doctors and nurses
59.
More important to Rudolph was the task to hand with the Clegg conundrum
60.
John Delmage had been the bearer of bad tidings announcing the death of Sir Alex Clegg at a half hour past midnight
61.
Alex Clegg!! If guilty had all his criminal activities been in vain? Had he gone to his grave carrying the biggest secret of all and if so of what consistency was the residue of the gang of criminals he had left in his wake? It would be more than interesting to know if he were survived by family members and if not, who the next of kin was
62.
Rudolph was not about to go down that track, but on this wet winter morning, as he had done through the night, he had selected Sir Alex Clegg as his villain and in his mind systematically went back two weeks to before the killing of Anton Clegg
63.
Rudolph constructed the crime from his perspective; the way Sir Alex Clegg, as the guilty one, now himself deceased, would have planned it
64.
Strong would have led him to the Hatfields as the hit men and Vatavai’s involvement was for no other reason than to lead Anton Clegg up the wooden stair to his death
65.
With his job done in luring Clegg to his fate he became surplus to requirements, dispensable and was taken out leaving only three to talk about the event in the pub
66.
Loose lips sink ships and with Lou Strong cooking slowly on the back burner there would be nobody other than Clegg and the two Hatfields with any knowledge of what had happened on Quay Street on that damp Saturday night
67.
If Anton Clegg had placed it in the safe as would be expected why was it only fifty thousand dollars were removed when and if the safe were opened? There had been plenty of other cash on display and if Tripp were involved he would have been aware of the total amount and not settled for less
68.
So what had Clegg done with the second fifty? It could have been a pay-off for his Judas Vatavai
69.
Anton Clegg, pictured left, died in traumatic circumstances
70.
It has been revealed his considerable fortune passed to his twin brother Sir Alex Clegg, right, who himself died at his home in Clevedon days later following a brain seizure and heart attack
71.
Today the contents of his will were revealed to this correspondent showing the proceeds of the entire Sir Alex Clegg estate, which we are assured will be in excess of two hundred and fifty million dollars, will be used to establish a charitable trust to benefit cancer research
72.
If Alex Clegg were the one who had instigated this horrendous crime he hadn’t much to show for it; just a holiday in Brunei and eternal rest, or would it be unrest? With him now passed on, who was there remaining in line to capitalise on the Clegg estate? Dave Freeman’s column said no one other than the cancer society
73.
It greased the wheels no end when Alex Clegg finally popped his clogs and hurried things along nicely
74.
He and Delmage have full power of attorney over anything Clegg had and all of us have joint signing authority on the new trust
75.
Clegg was my master criminal and has spoiled it all by coming up dead; but for what reason? Everyone he spoke to reckoned Clegg was a good bloke and it seemed likely that somewhere along the line someone was going to be either surprised or disappointed
76.
She introduced herself as Lorene Eagles, private nursing sister to Sir Alex Clegg and immediately apologised for Mr Scully’s absence; he was away making final arrangements for tomorrow’s funeral
77.
Sir Alexander Clegg was on view with one third of the casket lid hinged open
78.
“Anton Clegg, whom you say was well known to you, was cremated
79.
Along with other documents they’d arrived that morning from the Orient in a diplomatic bag carried by a flexible foreign diplomat and Wolf had personally executed the exchange of the sixty thousand Clegg dollars for the four new identities
80.
“I was thinking that Clegg was the master mind, but that has gone down in flames
81.
By discounting all previous judgements and opinions formed on any of those listed he was able to logically categorise each one’s involvement with the downfall of the Clegg Empire
82.
Anton Clegg had been the obvious target and victim, with his little friend Bates caught in the backwash
83.
Was that brain still around? Was he dead? Sir Alex Clegg had died
84.
Who had better motive than knight of the realm Sir Alex Clegg with eighteen million dollars on tap, plus the entire estate of his renegade brother Anton? On Anton’s death, every one of his heavily mortgaged properties would have become freehold because of mortgage insurance making Anton worth much, much more dead than alive
85.
To his discredit Rudolph had long deduced Clevedon Clegg was the villain of the piece, with his small army of mercenaries trotting around Auckland doing his dirty work while he was out of the country
86.
This was the second Clegg funeral in a week and the one that attracted the crowd, with part of that crowd being a strong representation of media
87.
They were obliged to wait at the gate, as did Jazz Bryant in an unmarked car, there to take particular note of all who showed interest in the passing of Sir Alex Clegg
88.
Since leaving Auckland he had completed a mental replay of the entire Clegg drama, exploring again every line of inquiry, going over every piece in the puzzle, every dead end to eventually reach the same conclusions as those on which the basis of the inquiry now revolved
89.
She was on hold while he pondered the analogy of Anton Clegg and the gang member in the Nazi helmet he had just met in the rain
90.
They’d cross the street and possibly share a latte with the likes of Anton Clegg in his Italian suit and silk tie
91.
Meet up with Anton Clegg, as did Greg Parkinson in theory, and you would expect to come away smiling knowing you’d done the right thing; but you wouldn’t feel the knife go in, nor know about it until the internal bleeding started
92.
The image of a courteous lady in a Salvation Army uniform took its place once more in his mind as he wrangled with the problem of her demise and its connection with the Clegg mystery
93.
The internment of Sir Alex Clegg had provided strong motivation for them to meet today, but it wasn’t the prime reason
94.
Apart from the fleet of luxury vehicles, he had scored Ben Scully’s beach house in Waihi, its contents, the launch that went with it as well as the fifteen metre three tier pleasure cruiser and its marina berth registered to the estate of Sir Alex Clegg
95.
Clegg remained quiet, but ever watchful
96.
Clegg rose from his chair and honed in on the drinks cabinet
97.
Clegg took the phone with a gleam in his eye
98.
Wolf ended the call and pocketed his phone, looking expectantly at Clegg who held up four fingers which didn’t conceal his smirk
99.
This action didn’t fit the low profile prescribed by Clegg earlier
100.
‘Tell me what it is that fifty million dollars cannot replace,’ had said Clegg, but the surgeon stayed quiet
