"What happened to Nota?"
"We picked him up a few days after the Colombians did in his buddy Flanders, only we didn't let the world know about it. He was just as happy. He'll become a part of the chorus and sing a song on his friends. They're all lining up now."
"So you bought the theory that Byrne had stumbled on the dough."
"Not at the beginning but the more you guys found, the more it seemed credible. When you and the old man began getting close, we stepped in. The two of you are pretty good for a couple of kitchen table detectives. So what put you on to me?"
"It was the newspaper, the Parkside Sentinel. The subscription was being sent to the name Cleary on Bascomb Place in Scranton but it stopped arriving there after he 'died.' When I checked with the Sentinel, they told me the subscription remained open but there weren't any papers lying around unclaimed, yet you said there wasn't any forwarding notice filed with the Post Office. Something didn't wash. Then it dawned on me that you lied. The newspaper was being forwarded all along."
"Smart boy," Winston replied.
"Once I questioned what you told me, everything began making sense. A bunch of gangsters chasing after Byrne was always a hard pill to swallow. You guys were the only ones with the manpower and capabilities."
"Right you are. You're on a roll."
"What about Arthur Atherton? Were you involved with him too?"
"He needed a lot of dough in a hurry so he started putting the squeeze on everyone in sight, including Cynthia Byrne. Some of the Philadelphia family took exception to it. When we got wind of what he was doing, we picked him up. I thought we had a deal with him to cooperate. We even paid off his stolen escrow account and talked him into backing off Cynthia Byrne. Sorry I lied to you about the escrow money-there wasn't any point in my doing it but I didn't think fast enough. Ol' Arthur didn't believe us when we told him there was a contract out on him and he went back out on the street. He didn't last long."
"Where did you catch up to Jeffrey Byrne?" Dean asked in a steady voice.
Jonathan Winston looked at Dean for a long minute before continuing. "It was easier for us than you. I have a lot more resources."
"So it was you who called Mrs. Glass-not Nota and his friends."
"They never had a sniff Byrne was connected to the money. That was all us. We even scared off the fellow who sold Byrne his first motor home."