"A COP AND A GENTLEMAN"
Writer: Stephen Desberg | Artist: Alain Queireix | Colorist: Kattrin
Writer: Stephen Desberg | Artist: Alain Queireix | Colorist: Kattrin
You may recall that when I looked at MISS OCTOBER book one a few weeks back, I noted that the opening scene was set at UCLA in 1963, as Viktor attempted to steal some artwork but triggered an alarm and was cornered outside by Detective Clegg Jordan. The action then jumped back two years to 1961, which is where we spent the bulk of book one, as well as all of books two and three. Well, book four opens on that night in 1963 once more, as Clegg lets Viktor go just before Ariel and several officers show up. Clegg then places Ariel under arrest for... the murder of Clegg's own wife, Margeaux! And with that, we're off and running into the final MISS OCTOBER installment.
We learn, in short order via flashbacks and exposition, that four months ago, Margeaux called Ariel, begging to see him again. They met and got it on, and then a photographer burst into the room and snapped several photos of the pair in coitus. Margeaux didn't really want Ariel back; she wanted to humuliate and blackmail him for the way he had treated her. It is based on this that Clegg arrests Ariel, but the LAPD chief knows the evidence is flimsy -- but, hating Ariel nearly as much as Clegg does, he gives Clegg one week to find concrete proof.
Meanwhile, during the four months since Margeaux's murder, Viktor and Clegg have been carrying on an affair. Clegg wants to marry her, but Juanita, who has carried a torch for Clegg for a long time, finds out that Clegg is in love with Viktor. Knowing about Viktor's secret life as a thief, Juanita makes plans to frame her -- but Clegg finds out. And this is where the story, which seemed more-or-less neatly wrapped up in the previous volume, takes some very dramatic turns as it careens toward its conclusion.