Hires a spy, possibly (4)
I believe the answer is:
pays
'hires' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with ownership as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'a spy possibly' is the wordplay.
'possibly' is an anagram indicator.
'a'+'spy'='aspy'
'aspy' anagrammed gives 'PAYS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pays that I've seen before include "Hollande's country" , "Gives money in return for something" , "Coughs up" , "Remunerates" , "Benefits" .)