Sell you a Bridge chapter 260

June 4th 2016 The Nightside 4:00 PM EDT

We  headed away from the Londinium Club after Hadleigh left. We had our  answer apparently. Once he was gone I'd asked Taylor and John about  things, and they had informed me that The Griffin, was a renowned power  in the Nighside, and that a large portion of his legend was having made a  deal with the devil. The Griffin was almost definitely the next clue we  needed to follow, but it wasn't a clue that would be easy to follow up  on. The Griffin didn't meet with people like us, not even Taylor, so we  decided to head to his office to plan things out and figure our next  step.

I'd never been to Taylor's office, though John had  mentioned his main place was in London proper. He did, however, keep  active premises in the Nightside so people (or things) here could reach  him. As we made our way there on foot, I stepped up next to the person  who seemed most agitated by all of this, which, shockingly, was John. I  fell into step with the blonde brit, curious as to what his deal was  given what the rest of us had going on. "Penny for your thoughts?"

He  snorted at that. "An American penny? I feel undervalued. Proper pennies  are worth more, by virtue of a pound being more valuable than your  flimsy dollar." His tone was acerbic, but in a teasing way, and I could  tell his heart wasn't in it. That had been weak, and he seemed to know  it, because his forced smile wilted into a grimace. "Right. It's nothing  you need to worry about mate. Though I suppose it's nothing you won't  see first hand once we get there. Just someone I'm a tad worried about  running into. Someone I haven't seen in a while."

Suzie,  who has come up behind us, snickered. "What he means is that he's  terrified Cathy is going to tear him a new arsehole when she sees him.  He didn't say goodbye to her when he left, and that girl can be scary  when she's mad." I head affection and genuine pride in her voice, and I  decided Suzie liked Cathy. I didn't get the impression Suzie was free  with her praise, and I had to admit I was looking forward to seeing what  she was like after that ringing endorsement.

I turned to  John. "Cathy is your ex? I think Taylor mentioned her in passing but he  didn't say much. Why just bail on her if you two were close?" It was a  personal question, but my insight into lies told me John was telling  himself more than a few. That was a question he needed to hear, even if  it was one I wasn't sure he would actually answer.

Sure  enough, he flinched at the words. He looked over at Taylor, though  whether for help or condemnation I wasnt sure, but the big detective  just faced forward, not giving John whatever he was expecting. That was  interesting. Taylor was a hardass to strangers, but from what I'd seen  he was a big softie about people he cared about. For him to ignore John,  a person he referred to as something like his own son, meant that this  was a bigger issue between them than they had let on. I'd been under the  impression Taylor didn't blame John for leaving, but I was pretty sure  he wasn't happy about this.

Seeing the lack of quarter  from his mentor, he sighed and apparently decided to answer me. His  voice was halting, as if he didn't really know the answer and was  figuring it out as he spoke. "I...I was afraid. This place got too heavy  for me and I left. I wanted her to come with me, but John is like a  father to her. I knew she'd never leave with me, never abandon him, and  asking her would have hurt both of us. I thought it would be better if I  just left. I didn't think she would care." He paused. "No. That's a  lie. I knew she would care. I just didn't want to see it. I was a  coward."

Taylor slowed, turning to look at the blonde. The  normally confident brit swallowed and lowered his head, but he didn't  break eye contact with his mentor. "Is that what you think you did?  Abandon me?" His voice was soft, kind even. "This was never where you  belonged Junior. Not really. You were always welcome with me, but I  never begrudged you the desire to get out. Lord knows I tried it myself.  Cathy would have understood, she might not have gone with you, she can  be stubborn, but you didn't give her the chance. I can forgive leaving,  Junior. But you hurt her. That, I'm less forgiving of."

John  flinched at that, and the older man sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not  going to toss you away or anything, like I said, you're welcome here,  but you and I aren't going to be right again until you talk to her.  Cathy is bloody minded and damned stubborn, but she doesn't give up on  people she loves. Having been the beneficiary of that bloody mindedness  more than a time or two I can tell you that for certain. Tell her what  you were feeling. She might not forgive right away, but she'll listen."

As  we talked we had approached a large, run down building and climbed a  set of rickety wooden stairs. John looked like he was marching to his  own execution, but he nodded at his mentor, climbing the steps to one of  the many beat up doors to the main floors and opening it with a  familiar ease, lifting and kicking the bottom of the door to pop it open  in a method that spoke of abundant practice. We headed down the hall  and he sighed. "You're right. Cathy is by far the sanest of us. She'll  hear me out. I'll go in first, it'll be better to talk alone."

We  reached the door to a small, cramped office, with Taylor's name on  frosted glass, and John sighed. He paused taking a deep breath to steel  himself to open the door. Once it opened he stepped up into the opening,  looking inside. There was a pause, as if the world was holding its  breath, and a voice shattered the air. "YOU BASTARD!" John ducked out of  the way as a coffee mug came sailing over his head and shattered  against the wall.

Taylor's eyes widened and he bellowed.  "Oi! That was my favorite mug.! Cathy Barrett you stop throwing my  dishes! I hardly have any of them left!" His formerly somber face was  looking genuinely panicked, and Suzie was have a hard time not laughing.  The answer was a second mug hurtling at John, who dodged again, but  Wally caught this one before it hit the wall, offering to a relived  Taylor, who shot him a nod of thanks. I guessed the first one had been  so surprising he hadn't really processed it before it hit. All the speed  in the world won't do you any good if you don't bother to use it.

John  took advantage of the second of pause to dart into the room, kicking  the door shut behind him. The next few minutes were rife with the sound  of shouting, breaking dishes, and finally quiet sobbing. The door opened  again, to show John with a pretty blonde girl a bit older than us  wrapped around him, head in his shoulder. Taylor stepped into the room  as his former apprentice moved out of the way, giving a pained  expression as his boots crunched through shards of glass scattered  across the wooden floor.

Cathy was clinging to John  tightly, and the disaffected brit's eyes were suspiciously red as well.  When Taylor saw his secretary and his mentee clinging to each other, his  pained expression melted away into a softer and more pleased gaze. He  chuckled at the two of them. "Seems like she didn't hold it against you  as much as you feared, though I have to say I'm surprised you let him  off so easily Cathy. I'd have expected something a bit more than dish  throwing based on all your rants this year."

John gave him  a tight smile, and when he spoke his voice was tight with pain. "She  did. Once I calmed her down she said she was too angry to just get past  it right away. She said my options were let her stay angry and deal with  the cold shoulder or to let her hit me once as hard as she could." He  shuddered slightly in her grip. "I picked the latter because I couldn't  stand to have her mad at me. Next time I get her that pissed I'll just  let her stew for a while." He winced. "Or wear a cup." My eyes widened  as his reddened eyes suddenly took on a new meaning.

Suzie  whooped with laughter. "Good for you Cathy. Giving him a choice was a  particularly nice touch, since now he has no one to blame but himself."  Suzie grinned down at the shuddering form of John, who still looked kind  of sick, and who I could see was being partially held up by Cathy. The  rest of us all winced. I had to admit, if she had just junk punched him I  would have thought it was pretty messed up, but he was the one who  decided to skip over the cold shoulder in exchange for a sack tap.

At  Suzie's comment, Cathy looked up from his shoulder, seeing all of us in  the door, and blushed slightly. "Oh, right, guests. Please, come in,  it's so nice to meet all of you. I just made a fresh pot of coffee!" She  gave us a friendly smile, which dimmed as she looked around the  partially destroyed room. "Though...I don't think there's anything left  to drink it out of." Wally cleared his throat stepped forward to pass  her the last remaining unbroken mug he'd caught earlier and she gave a  wry smile of thanks. "So...I guess you can all just take turns with it?"

I  burst out laughing at that, stepping up to offer my hand. "I can help  out with that for anyone who needs it. Making a few cups would be simple  enough." My ectoplasmic constructs were more than capable of holding  liquid, even without going so far as to make real abyssal alloy out of  it. She took my hand with a grateful smile, and I continued my  introduction. "I'm Morgan O'Malley, these are my girlfriends Zatanna and  Dreamer, my best friend Artemis, her boyfriend Wally, our mentor Jim,  and I'm sure you know the rest the people tagging along better than I  do. We've heard great things."

We  all filed inside, and as promised I created a bunch of ectoplasmic mugs  for most of the people with us. Jim summoned a tea cup and saucer for  himself, and Tommy pulled a beer stein from...somewhere, but other than  that everyone needed a mug to drink from. Lots of coffee drinkers  apparently, or they just wanted something to do with their hands, which I  was convinced was why brits drank so much tea to begin with. Taylor  watched me passing them out with a pained expression, and it was hard  not to chuckle at his grimace.

Once  we sat down, Cathy smiled apologetically. "Sorry about all that. I  swear I don't usually get that riled, but Johnny and I had some  unfinished business. Sorry you lot got caught up in it. Now, what brings  you here? John usually only comes in to the office for meetings or to  get messages to search for a case. If he's already working with you  there's not much to be had here." We informed her of everything that had  happened, letting her know we were only here to lie low and talk out  our options, and she made the appropriate ooh and aahs at the right  points in the story. When we were done, she turned to Taylor. "Well,  that sounds like a mess. What the hell are you all going to do now?"  That, I thought, was an excellent question.