A long-time girlfriend comes to the rescue, offering Lindsay a job with the Justice Department that would require a move from Seattle, Washington to Washington DC. Why not? Lindsay argues with herself. Her husband has apparently abandoned her and if she can’t find him she can’t even divorce him.

 At once Lindsay spins into a new and exciting career. When she is transferred to London in an exchange between the U.S. Justice Department and MI5, she learns to speak with a proper English accent and develops a talent for computer hacking and covert operations. She also picks up the sophistication of London. Her drab blonde hair is now a rich shade of auburn. Off go the extra pounds and tinted contact lenses change her eye color from brown to sapphire blue. Lindsay is delighted with the transformation. Even her own mother wouldn’t recognize her!

Five busy and exciting years pass. When valuable ID’s are stolen from a diplomatic pouch at the British Embassy, Lindsay, now known as “Honor” is sent to Washington to find the thieves and disable the secret codes encrypted into the security badges. She is instructed to thwart any assassination attempt on visiting delegates. It’s doubtful that Lindsay would ever run into her ex-husband and even more doubtful that a college professor from Seattle would have anything to do with the American Justice Department or the British Embassy…So thinks Lindsay/Honor.

 

With Unfinished Business, Elizabeth Lucas-Taylor launches her career as a novelist who has much to say and a unique way of saying it.

  

About the Author

 

Unfinished Business is Elizabeth Lucas-Taylor’s first published novel. In 2002, a volume of poetry called REFLECTIONS & DREAMS was  ePublished by Kingfisher Books, www.kingfisherbooks.com . She also has a series of mini-poetry eBooks ePublished with Coughlan Enterprises, Dublin, Ireland, www.shaneland.co.uk .

 

Elizabeth also lectures and writes on Dream Interpretation, Behavior Modification and Relaxation, Regression Therapy, the ABC’s of Mental Projection, Self-healing, Mind Disciplines, Diabetes, and Goal Setting Techniques.

 

From 1982-85, Elizabeth authored a  Q & A Professional Column for Austin Woman’s Magazine and was a member of the Advisory Council of Austin Woman Extra, a newspaper tabloid designed to bring a wider scope of information on local, state and national levels to working women in Texas.

 

Elizabeth was also active in the Austin Women’s Speakers Bureau where she taught Motivational and Marketing Classes for the Austin Women’s Center. She was an enthusiastic reader-editor [monitor] volunteer for Recording for the Blind.

 

A Certified Hypnotherapist, Elizabeth specializes in past-life regression; behavior modification and medical/legal referrals.

 

Currently Elizabeth resides in Phoenix, Arizona. Her website is www.authorsden.com/elizabethlucastaylor .

 

 

Excerpt:
Chapter 1

 

Seattle, Washington - 1995

 

Lindsay dragged herself into the house. She shouldn’t have gone to work today, but she’d already missed too many days.

This flu was dragging on. Her whole body ached because of it. She was having major trouble breathing and her chest was rattling like a nervous trolley. Her teeth ached so severely, she was ready to have all of them pulled out. 

To top everything off, Griffin had been gone for over three weeks and she hadn’t heard from him since last Friday, six days ago. Even that had been only a curt email that he would be in touch when he could... and not to worry.

Not to worry? The man was a bona fide comedian! He’d be a crippled comedian if he didn’t call soon or come home. She would personally do the deed.

To top it all off, she’d discovered yesterday that the emergency number he’d left for her wasn’t a working one -- nor had it been for over six months, according to the phone company.

Well for crying out loud, how does that read? He had to know the number wasn’t working... he just had to! Griffin was too methodical not to know.

"Not to worry!" she grumbled to herself. Wait until he surfaces from wherever. She’d show him “not to worry”! She’d skin the man alive!

Even an unflappable Charlie Douglas, Griffin’s closest colleague at the university hadn’t heard a word from Griffin either. That was most unusual. When she’d spoken to Charlie this morning, he’d reassured her, “The lad will turn up eventually. Blah...blah...blah...”

Aauughhh! Men! If Charlie hadn’t been such a good friend and mentor to her husband she would have told him where to stuff it and pound hard.

Where the devil was Griffin anyway? Why hadn’t he called? When would he be home? Was he all right? Had he been in an accident? Should she call the police to report him missing? Should she have the river dragged for a body?

She checked the answering machine to make sure it wasn’t blinking to signal a message. Nothing.

It was turned on. She double-checked.

Why couldn’t she have a conventional marriage like everyone else? Preferably a husband who was home once in a while or at least called frequently to explain why he wasn’t. And as an extra bonus, one who would talk to her in complete sentences.

Lindsay glared at the silent answering machine. Her voice mail was also unnervingly silent.

Life sucked. She hated her job, hated Seattle with all the rain and dampness, and she felt unwanted and ignored by Griffin. Her whole head was throbbing. Rubbing her aching temples with the pads of her fingers, Lindsay didn’t even try to stop the tears.

It was no wonder she had a headache. She hadn’t eaten all day. Why bother when everything tasted like cardboard? Why did she have to come home to an empty house? Why couldn’t there be a husband waiting for her, specifically Professor Griffin Mayer?

Somehow she had to pull herself together. Tomorrow would be another busy day at SAM, the Seattle Art Museum, and she had to muster enough energy for the meeting. It was going to be a long one. She had to be there, sick or dead, to help the new Development Manager oversee the fundraising plans for the museum’s next twelve months.

Why had all of this – what she loved to do most and was so good at, turned sour? Was it because funding for the arts was a constant worry and getting worse with each passing year? Fortunately, the SAM already had its pledges and now it was just a matter of collecting. Still, it wasn’t going to be easy to get that money into the bank.

No. It wasn’t her job. It was her attitude. That’s what was wrong, and deep down she knew it.  Her usual helpful, fun loving social skills had become non-existent.

“Misery does that to a person,” she groused under her breath. “And missing a wandering husband, with no way to get in touch with him…”

Lindsay caught sight of her image in the mirror above the sofa. Yahhhggh! She looked absolutely terrible. She stuck out her tongue; it was gross and furry. Her nose was red and runny and her eyes were two puffy slits.

Ordinarily Lindsay wasn’t too unhappy with her appearance. At five-feet-five-inches in her stocking feet, with naturally blonde curly hair and big expressive woe-be-gone brown eyes, the only problem she’d ever had was weight. She was a little on the plump side, but Griffin had never seemed to notice. Maybe because he was also a little on the plump side. 

Actually Lindsay liked the way he looked. And she liked the way he…

“How have you come to be such a wretched mess?”  she muttered disgustedly to the basket case in the mirror.

Kicking off her shoes, Lindsay shuffled to the kitchen to heat water for some herbal tea and the rest of her antibiotic. Maybe she could will the medicine to make herself feel better. It was one of those new drugs on the market... new and improved. Then why the hell didn’t she feel better? She poured herself a glass of water and shoved the last pill into her mouth.

What wasn’t working for her? For Griffin and herself? Was she expecting too much from two busy professionals, each needing to be completely immersed in their own careers? She certainly didn’t think so. The rest of the world could manage two career marriages... why couldn’t they? She couldn’t imagine how his teaching position could be so demanding. Six hours, two courses a semester in Information Systems and Political Science, with four assistants to help him.

Her own teaching career certainly hadn’t been so involved. She went to school, she taught, she came home, she cooked supper.

Griffin was becoming a virtual stranger. No, scratch that. He was a virtual stranger. They didn’t communicate more than a few words at a clip and they hadn’t made love in weeks. The last six months he’d shut her out completely. If only he’d opened up to share. Then maybe she could help him.

Ha! As if he wanted her help!

Mostly she had a conversation with herself and he would grunt convincingly when prodded. She was sick of those grunts too. One more thing for her list. She could have left for the last three weeks and he wouldn’t have noticed.

She was losing Griffin and she didn’t know why. He was her life, her very breath, from the first day she’d clapped eyes on him. She loved him beyond tomorrow, but apparently she wasn’t that important to him anymore.

More tears welled up in her already puffy, swollen brown eyes. Oh gawd! How could a couple pills replace Griffins touch, Griffin’s tenderness, Griffin’s adoring gaze, Griffin’s… She choked back the dry sobs, her shoulders shaking convulsively.

Through the kitchen window she gazed sullenly at the kids next door having a water fight in their pool, squealing and shouting as they poured water on each other. Oh, to be that carefree and happy again. By now, she and Griffin should have had a couple of kids running around the yard screaming and yelling. They’d talked about children, but it just hadn’t happened.

They had been married for four years and the jerk had missed their wedding anniversary yesterday. That’s when Lindsay discovered the emergency phone number he’d given her was bogus. It was the same number he’d always given her, so he had to know. True, she’d never had cause to call him when he was at these quick and mysterious conferences. He’d always called her to check in.

But yesterday she’d decided it was time for her to pick up the phone from her end.  This was the longest he’d ever gone without contacting her.

Lindsay slammed down the receiver in disbelief. A fake number! All these months… Curse his ornery hide! He needed a good smack for making her worry like this. And where was he?

“All I wanted was to hear your voice on our anniversary.” Tears were coming faster now and Lindsay made no effort to stop them.

He was supposed to be in California at a conference for the School of International Studies. Humpft! Well anyway, this was his latest reason for being away from home.

Granted, the school held many conferences throughout the year, and many times Griffin was called on to pinch hit for a professor who couldn’t travel because of a family emergency or illness.

Good old Charlie Douglas was the person who usually made the requests. Griffin would never refuse when Charlie asked a favor.

This was one of the things which had endeared Griffin to her: the uncomplaining way he always came to the rescue of his friends. Her dear husband never said no... unless the request came from her. What did this tell her? To Griffin, his colleagues – others came first. She was a big zero. Dear husband. Rot!

They’d had a big blow-up this time before he’d gone off on his trip. Griffin had accused her of being childish. This was his way of handling any crisis. Give it a name and walk away.

Well, she couldn’t go on this way anymore, she informed herself resolutely. She had to make some changes soon, with or without Griffin.

Was she being childish? Was Griffin right?

She needed to talk this one through. She needed to call her best friend, Chloe.

Ever since she could remember, Lindsay and Chloe Brennan had been friends. The two had grown up together in Phoenix, Arizona and they’d shared many of the same interests: Arizona politics and Southwestern history and culture.

Lindsay had always loved languages and she had a knack for learning them, even some obscure American Indian ones which no one had ever heard of.  Portions of Arizona had originally belonged to the ancient Hoho’kam and the Anasazi. The history was fascinating.

When Lindsay was at the University of Colorado, her interests were art, history and Griffin Gordon Mayer. It didn’t take long for the order of preferences to be reversed. She was in love, panting heavily and ready for marriage. Panting heavily himself, Griffin had obliged her. Two years after they married, Griffin received an offer to teach at the University of Washington and moved them to Seattle.

With her many skills, Lindsay easily found a position at the Seattle Art Museum restoring and preserving everything from the ancient Mediterranean and Egyptian collections to the master paintings and contemporary Northwest art that was on display. It was constant work trying to protect the canvases from the excessive moisture that eventually crept into every building, no matter how sophisticated the ventilation systems.

In her spare times, which were plentiful with Griffin gone so much doing whatever it was he did, Lindsay helped with the ongoing restoration of Pioneer Square, a thirty block historic district in the heart of Seattle. The old homes, picturesque sidewalk cafes, legions of art galleries and priceless antique shops in the area were the loves of her life... after Griffin.

Always... after Griffin.

She’d taken many, many lonely walking tours during his absences, tracing paths from Chief Seattle to the Pioneers, to the Great Fire, to the Klondike Stampeders, to Bill Boeing and the unmistakable Microsoft’s Bill Gates. She knew where the city’s heritage manifested itself in Romanesque, beaux-arts and Art Deco buildings. She was one of the few transplants who knew what a geoduck, pergola and bumbershoot were.

 

From the first moment she and Griffin met, they were inseparable. They married a few months later in a small, quiet church ceremony, since both sets of parents were gone and they had no one to answer to but themselves. Chloe Brennan and Charlie Douglas had been their only witnesses. Life and the future couldn’t have looked any better for the two of them.

Chloe was now an attorney with the Justice Department in New York City and married to her career. Chloe knew where she was going and how she was going to get there – on her own. Although she was chic and petite with plenty of sex appeal, Chloe loved her single status. If she stayed with the same man for more than thirty days it was considered a serious relationship.

 

Lindsay gulped down the rest of her tea, clutched her hot lemonade and shuffled tiredly back to the master bedroom. A hot shower soothed her aches and pains and the moisture definitely helped relieve her coughing and swollen sinuses. Too bad she couldn’t sleep in the shower, she grumbled to herself, as she began wheezing again.

            She pulled on Griffin’s bathrobe and pretended it was him wrapped cozily around her. Obviously, tonight it was all the sexual stimulation she was going to get. Slathering herself with Vick’s Vaporub, she crawled into bed.

Plucking up a new novel from the night table, she tried to read. But after a half hour, she realized she hadn’t turned a single page. All she could think about was Griffin.

She was driving herself crazy.

Lindsay tossed the book on the night table and let her mind wander, since that’s what it wanted to do.

 

Tomorrow she’d give Chloe a call. Lindsay let out a sigh, snuggling under the covers. Maybe just speaking to her level-headed friend would help her get her perspective back. God knows she could stand someone else’s dry biting humor besides her own. Chloe would snap her out of this. Yes. She would give Chloe a ring tomorrow.