“With all of that to gain,” he spread his hands out wide, “all they wanted to give Winston was fifty K.” Just the memory of it made him angry. “Fuckin’ rich people.” He snapped, forefinger jabbing toward me. “Cheap motherfuckers. You know how it is, Tony. We get crumbs. Tips. Chump change.

“I had to save Winston from himself. It should’ve been up in the six figures. Way up. Even seven. Who wouldn’t spend one million to gain a hundred million? I opened up negotiations with them.”

“Them?”

“The wife and her girlfriend, or whatever she is. I explained to them how they were locked in. To Winston. To us. If they had anyone else do it, I could go to the police, and say, hey, these ladies were searching for a contract. That’s where we are now, isn’t it, Tony? You took him out. Here I am.”

I felt sweat prickling down my spine. Not the clean, healthy kind that had been flowing just a little bit earlier, splitting wood. I couldn’t see this thing going anywhere good. But I kept my breathing, my face, and my voice under control. “You said you had it locked down. What happened?”

“Winston. Had some other shit in his life. Coochie, coochie, coo. Some young thing with one of those proprietorial husbands. Caught them at it.” Owen made a hand gesture, forefinger straight, thumb up. “Pop!” He put his hand down. “After that they didn’t want to deal with me, because I knew how much the deal was really worth. They went to you. I hope to hell you didn’t do it at some discount dollar-store price. Since I intend to get a substantial payout here.”

“Listen to me, Owen. McMunchun’s death was an accident.”

“Bullshit.” He was ready to explode.

The tension inside me rose along with his. I said, “Slow down, Owen. Forget about what I say and what you think, just for a moment, OK? What the cops think is that it was an accident. Officially. Formally.”

“Yeah, so?”

“You should very much want it to stay that way. You’re a really smart guy, smarter than me. I tell you what I see, and you can tell me if you see a way out of it. First, these two women came to Winston. To solicit a criminal act. Winston came to you. You entered into negotiations over the price.” I was doing my best to sound like I was an online voice from criminal.findlaw.com or beenarresstedcallus.net. Going over the facts. Then hitting the checklist. “Did they give you any money?”

“What? No,” he said.

“Did they give Winston any?”

“No.”

“Good,” I said. I brushed my hair back. Little woodchips fell out, like dandruff.

“Four people. It’s a conspiracy. Toward a contract killing. A Class A felony…Give me a second…I’m trying to remember…105.15. That’s it. Conspiring to commit a Class A felony. The crime doesn’t have to take place. All it needs is talking about it and one overt act.