P Is For Peril
Chapter One
The house on Old Reservoir Road appeared to be in the final phases of
construction. I spotted the site as I rounded the curve, recognizing the unfinished structure from Fiona Purcell's
description. To my right, I could see a portion of the reservoir for which the road was named. Brunswick Lake fills the
bottom of a geological bowl, a spring-fed body that supplied the town with drinking water for many years. In 1953 a
second, larger catch basin was established, and now Brunswick is little more than an irregular blue splotchlet on maps
of the area. Swimming and boating are forbidden, but seasonally the migrating water birds rest on the placid surface as
they make their way south. The surrounding hills are austere, gentle swells rising to the mountains that mark the
northernmost boundary of the Santa Teresa city limits.
I parked my VW on the gravel berm and crossed the two-lane road. The steeply
pitched lot was still bare of landscaping and consisted entirely of raw dirt and boulders with a dusting of
weeds taking hold. At street level, a big commercial Dumpster was piled high with debris. A small grove of signs
pla ... read full excerpt from P Is for Peril ebook
