The Love-Haight Case Files Read Online Free

OTs. Called “the last chance church” by those in the Haight-Ashbury district, it boasted a large library that he’d visited several times.
    “Do you want to go?” Thomas knew Evelyn was Catholic and that she sometimes stopped at Saint Agnes’s. “Dinner at Massawa and then—”
    “I can’t.” She blew out a breath, fluttering the curls against her forehead. “You know I can’t. Class tonight, admiralty.”
    “That’s right. Thursday.” Thomas concentrated on his cases so much that sometimes what day it was eluded him. She had classes Tuesday and Thursday nights, Monday and Wednesday mornings, and into the afternoons.
    “Dinner would be nice.” The smile reached her fog-gray eyes. “But I’d better not skip class. There’s only six weeks left in the semester, and the bar exam is coming up in February. I need to pass it on the first go. I don’t want to wait for the August testing.”
    He had no doubt that she’d pass. And then how could he afford her after she got her law license and could work full time? Would she go elsewhere? Some firm that would pay her what she was worth? “So dinner tomorrow then?”
    “Tomorrow.” She nodded. “Been ages since I’ve been to Massawa. And it’d be good to celebrate.” She gently squeezed his arm.
    Thomas turned to watch the middle-aged couple, not wanting Evelyn to see his broad grin. He thought about taking a peek over his shoulder to get a better look at the bungaya , but worried that might be rude. He got his look, though. When he and Evelyn got out at the park stop, the bungaya got out there too, but sauntered off in the opposite direction doing an odd soft shoe shuffle step.
    The park stop was a little ritual when it wasn’t raining. There was one stop closer to the office, but Thomas enjoyed the brief walk, and the temperature was agreeable for the first of November, a balmy sixty-five. It was forever interesting to see who was in the park … sometimes mimes—a few of the regulars were quite good; often panhandlers that Thomas refused to encourage; frequently saxophone buskers who took requests; and always a smattering of colorful folk, a few of which weren’t quite human.
    Then there were the buildings along Haight Street that he often paused for moments to study. He never tired of looking at them, not just from an architectural standpoint, but to see the merchant displays, and to be pleasantly surprised by the scattered renovations in progress with the old Victorians.
    After graduation from Stanford, and opting to follow his heart and avoid his father’s firm, Thomas had purposely looked to hang out his shingle in this neighborhood. He liked the aura of the place; the “vibe” as residents from a few decades past would have called it. And he appreciated the lower rent. While he didn’t have any college loans to pay off—thanks to his father and a few scholarships—he had only a little savings to throw at this venture.
    He and Evelyn crossed the street and headed toward the law office, passing a fruit vendor and a trio of girls playing hopscotch in front of a thrift shop. The law office was just down the block.
    “I really feel for Holder, you know,” Evelyn said. Her gaze was cast downward, no doubt so she could watch for the uneven blocks in the sidewalk. Thomas knew the sidewalk by heart. “Not able to see his kids? I think that’s just horrid, Thomas. I want him to win, us to win.”
    “It’d be good to make a difference, wouldn’t it?” Thomas really believed that. He wanted to make a difference—for the better—for the Other-Than-Human element in this crazy world. And he was beside himself that Evelyn shared his vision. He knew she’d been a little skeptical at first about this particular case, actually worrying if Holder’s children would be bothered by seeing their father as a ghoul. But she was the one to find the studies about children being more nonplussed than adults around the undead and more accepting of oddities