So we wrap up with two issues of the same title. Scout's publishing schedule is weird lately. First issue of this shipped in March, then issues 2-4 came out in six weeks from early June to last week. But at least the books do come out.
The judge receives one of his assistant's hands in the mail, but is not convinced to back off. That's fine, the arms dealer was more interested in the assistant's book of the judge's schedule, which mentions regular meetings with a "Queen Victoria". Which turns out to be Seamus' friend Victoria, who is a dominatrix. Delporte sends the two IRA guys to her place of business and they slit her throat. Felipe finds Seamus, who ended up not bringing the severed hand he found to the cops because he rightly concluded the cops are assholes, and Seamus freaks out at seeing Victoria's body (see the panel below.)
Was I surprised the immigrant single mother who is a sex worker was brutally murdered? Reader, I was not. Also, I feel the "AAiEEE!" makes the whole thing kind of comical when it's not supposed to be. A panel of silent shock probably would have worked better, but I'm wondering if the story wouldn't be better served with an artist more like Sean Phillips anyway. Not something I typically say, but this seems like it's a grubby, street-level, backstabbing crime story, and I'm not sure the art isn't too clean for that.
Also, the third issue picks up where the second ends, and Seamus tries to keep Felipe out of the room, even though Felipe came to him asking to help his mother, with hands already covered in blood. I think it's a little late to worry about that. Seamus does use his sight on Victoria's whip and gets a glimpse of the judge, so after talking with the cops, and Eleanor (who both works in child services and is the niece of the arms dealer Delporte), Seamus tosses the hand into bushes near a pier belonging to Delporte, then lies to the judge about where he saw it. Except then the 2 IRA guys show up and just shoot the judge. But not Seamus because I'm pretty sure the guy who got out of prison is his father. Or at least knows Seamus via his deceased murder.
When I lay it all out like that, it starts to sound like a soap opera and maybe Arenas' art is well-suited for this after all. The coloring and the shading aren't really as dark as you'd expect, the linework is very clean. For the subject matter, it does feel like the kind dramatized yet sanitized approach I'd expect from a soap opera.
I will confess to not understanding the moves characters are making. Delporte gives the agenda log to the IRA guys, who decide to visit Victoria. Presumably to get leverage on the judge. Then they kill her. Why? Because she didn't talk? That just puts more potential heat on them if anyone saw.
Then, while Delporte is calling a cop he's old army buddies with to sell out the IRA guys for trying to buy weapons for him, the IRA guys go and kill the judge. Delporte was going to use this to get the cop to make the judge back off, and mentions he knows something the judge wants kept secret. Meaning the thing with Victoria, I'm sure. If you have that information, why bother selling out the IRA guys by alerting the cops? For that matter, why are you telling a cop you have information you can blackmail a judge with? Isn't that a crime? Just let the judge know you have the info.
And why are the IRA guys killing the judge? Brandon, the one that got out of prison, doesn't like Delporte, but there's no indication he realizes they're being double-crossed. A dead judge, shot in his own office, in the middle of the day, in front of a witness, is a much bigger mess than a judge quietly pressured to drop a case.
I sure hope issue 4 makes some sense of this.
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