Tune up

“We finally stopped roustin' him and decided to tune him up instead, every chance we got.” “Tune him up?” “Yeah, that's an expression for beatin' the living dog shit outta somebody.”

“I mean, I had to tune her up a bit. She bitched a lot and never did any work. Sometimes, you know, you just gotta get their attention, whack 'em a little."

[T]hey couldn't tune him up because the murder had to look like he died in his sleep.