The Peace Conference
- At 9 p.m., everyone is gathered at the Willssons': Pete the Finn, Reno Starkey, Max Thaler, Noonan, Elihu Willsson, and of course, the Op.
- Elihu gives a speech about how it's time to end all the bloodshed and make peace.
- Now it's the Op's turn: the Op begins his work trying to turn everyone against each other.
- He first tells everyone that Noonan knew all along that MacSwain had killed Tim, but that he wanted to pin the murder on Max.
- The Op goes on to explain what he thinks has been going on in the past few days: Noonan pretended to get a tip that Max was hiding out at Cedar Hill Inn in order to clear the way for a setup in town.
- Noonan had convinced Reno (who wants to take over Yard's racket) to stick up the bank and make it look like Max did it.
- The fact that Jerry was killed during the stickup also made it easier to frame Max for the robbery.
- When Reno was released on bail, Yard sent his men over to teach Reno not to step out of line. Reno responded by killing Yard. (We have no idea how the Op figured all this out. We guess he's just a genius that way.)
- The Op concludes by saying that he wants everyone to "play nice," but he knows that he has just succeeded in turning everyone in the room against each other.