What would be the meaning of the following sentence:
- He's a man with a knife and a main chance.
Could it be something like "He had both means and a motive?"
I encountered it watching crime series on TV (and no, I did not misheard it, as I checked subtitles). The house of a man who recently bought it burns down in an apparent arson. Two police officers have following dialog:
A: Chris thinks arson.
B: An insurance job?
A: Had you heard Dennis Costello recently bought the place?
B: No. I hadn't heard that. But then again, he's not short of a few bob. He's a man with a knife and a main chance.
A: Still trying to figure out what the main chance is here.