And now, another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense?
The Daisy Chain, written for suspense by John R. Forrest.
When is it going to stop raining, that's what I ask myself.
Is that a knock or is it the storm?
It's hard to tell. It's cold too.
I put a shilling in the geezer an hour ago and the water's cold already.
There are scientists who say the climate's changing a dead ride.
To knock, I think.
Now, who'd be out tonight?
Only that Daisy Chain murderer who escaped from jail would be out tonight.
Now I see in the paper they're trying to locate his mother.
Chances are they'll find them both drowned in the London rain.
What I'm trying to say, only evil men...
Father, stop your silly nonsense.
No one with any sense in his nogger would be out.
Go to the door, Sharon, please.
Yes, Father.
How do you do?
Better now. Thank you that I'm inside.
Take off your coat. I'll put your umbrella over here.
I don't want to be a bother to anybody, but I'm alone now.
Very much alone.
Do you have a room to let?
I'm Pitchfield here. This is my daughter, Sharon.
I'm the proprietor of the premises.
We do have one room to let. What's your name?
I'm Mrs. Grimes. Mrs. Hattie Grimes, that is.
My husband was the late George Grimes of Manchester.
You're from Manchester, Mrs. Grimes?
Yes, indeed.
Came all the way by train and then scuttled about in this rain.
I was so grateful to see your sign.
Oh, you like the room. It has a grate.
And a cosy conservatory.
I'm sorry about your husband, Mrs. Grimes. Was it recent?
Oh, mercy knows to happen. 35 years ago, but I never remarried.
Well, largely because of my health.
My back has given out several times.
Just lately, too.
How much rent do you charge for the room?
Well, I'm sure we can talk business in the morning, can't we, Father?
Father, would you carry Mrs. Grimes' case into her room?
Oh, what a ride. All the way from...
I believe you're from Manchester, Mrs. Grimes.
This way, please.
Have you been reading about the daisy chain murderer, Mrs. Grimes?
Oh, Father, stop playing detective. I'll get Mrs. Grimes' file going.
Never read papers any more. Listen to Third Pilgrim, because it puts me to sleep.
We're a little jittery.
Right on top of the fog and rain, this daisy chain murderer escaped from jail.
Right from the Angman's notes, he did.
You never heard about him in Manchester?
I dare say everybody in England's heard about him now.
Has to be hanged in 30 days.
Those poor girls. One in the sand at Bogno Regis, the other one...
Where was it, Sharon? Regens Park?
Father, will you change the subject?
The last one at Amstead Heath.
He wasn't any Jack the Ripper. No, not this fine buck.
Oh, I'm talking about the killer I am.
This one was artistic and sentimental.
Left a daisy chain around the necks of his poor victims.
Please excuse Father, Mrs. Grimes. He's an amateur Sherlock Holmes.
I do want to trespass on your good nature, but would you happen to have a glass of stout?
My back is going out again and I can tell I...
I get such a clutch. Right in the small...
The cold of Manchester, Mrs. Grimes.
What an ugly old city it is, all the mills and coal.
I'm so fortunate to find you good people with a room to let.
After my bitter journey and... Oh, my back.
Get us some nicer spots in Manchester.
Oh, yes, I lived in one of the better places.
A lovely part of town for those in modest circumstances.
I'm sure you did. And this place was...
Oh, thank you for the stout young lady.
There you are.
Yes, it was a beauty spot. I must remember the number.
Well, no matter. Oh, uh...
23-something.
Daisy Bank Road.
Come tomorrow morning. We'll tell her to go.
She gets a free night's lodge and just because we can't...
Oh, Father, you're an old fuss-monger.
Well, better be safe than sorry.
If you're so worried, why don't you notify the inspector?
Oh, I'm sure I'd fill out a place reporting a harmless old woman to the police.
If she's a harmless old woman, why do you...
Well, she doesn't talk like the people of Manchester.
Shall we get the 10 o'clock news and go to bed?
I was never one to lean on the cautious side, you understand?
But right now, what would one thing...
Don't you trust anybody, Father?
Well, I don't trust somebody from Manchester who doesn't talk that way.
Eh, nothing to be done tonight.
As your dear mother used to say, may she rest in peace.
Tomorrow will be a fairer day.
In just a moment, we will return for the second act of...
Suspense.
Mama? Mama?
Oh, oh, no.
No, merciful heavens, no.
Mama?
Mama, will you let me in?
Oh, go away. Go away.
Let me alone. Let me alone. Go away.
I'm so tired. Go away.
Mama, it's me. It's Jimmy. Open the window.
How did you find me? How did you find me?
Mama, a little light, not too much.
Oh, why didn't you leave me alone? Why didn't you...
How did you find me?
Oh, I've got a candle.
Now, now. Wait a moment.
Wait a moment.
Oh, is he... is he Mama?
Mama, I saw you leave your old things this morning.
I watched you give the slip to the Bobbies.
Oh, you were clever, Mama.
Oh, they'll get you. Oh, my boy, they'll get you.
I had to leave.
I knew the Bobbies would look for me and find you that way.
You shouldn't have followed me. They'll get you for sure.
Not if you quiet down.
Oh, well, it's great to be... I suppose this is home.
They keep saying you did it, and you keep saying you didn't do it.
Oh, my poor boy, when will it stop?
You got any food, Mama?
The papers write those dreadful things,
and it's on the wireless all the time.
Mama, I want some food.
Oh, what horrible days these are, horrible days.
When you were a little boy, you'd go bound into the parks
and bring me back flowers, singing and laughing.
Oh, Jimmy.
And then they started saying all those things about you.
Oh, I can't stand it anymore.
I can't stand that it's got to stop. It's got to...
Oh, it's cookies all you've got.
I only had a fire for a few moments, but there'll be tea.
How many people in the house?
Only two, the landlord and his daughter.
His daughter?
It's a slack season with them. Just two people live here.
What's the daughter like?
You wouldn't be asking about the daughter, Jimmy,
if you were my little boy again.
Don't you dare ask me about her.
Oh, what manner of man have I raised?
You'll be raising the dead if you don't pipe down.
And you can joke about it.
You, with the likeness already made of you, would matter too so.
I'll be staying with you, Mama.
And you'll put me up, and you won't tell anybody anything.
It'll be just like those other days.
Tell me more about the daughter, Mama.
What's her name?
May the good Lord have mercy on your soul.
Is this Inspector Christ?
Inspector?
I let her room last night.
A bad night, if you recall.
An old woman took the room for a fordnet.
Said she was from Manchester.
Then this morning she announced her son had come a visitin'.
Now, while I'm not naturally a suspicious man,
I began to wonder about that daisy chain.
Well, you're a lively one, all right.
Well, there's no harm in it.
Well, there's no harm done.
We'll have the light in no time.
Matter of fact, we've had a call from our station in the south of England
saying a boy answering the description has been picked up.
So you can stop worrying.
Oh, thank you, Inspector.
I just wanted to make certain...
As it again, Father.
What did you find out?
Scotland Yard has them, all right.
Or think they have.
You know what curiosity did to the kitten.
I think you ought to chat so much with that boy.
You know, you spent all morning talking to him.
He recites such lovely poetry.
Such a nice voice he has.
Never worked a day in his life.
He's had a lot of schooling. He speaks well.
Well, you mind yourself now, you.
I'm off to the city.
Goodbye, Father.
So your kind old father warned you about my offish ways.
What does he know about me?
I bet he was offended because I recite poetry.
Jimmy, you were listening.
Well, I couldn't help but hearing.
Ah, what a beautiful day for the pure in heart.
A day when the morning sun salutes its own, the very young.
You have quite a way of reading.
I'm not reading.
A much better approach when I'm out of doors on the grass,
listening to nightingales.
When peace comes dropping slow.
What say we high off to the greengrocers?
We get some bread and cheese, some grapes and wine,
and dine like royalty under the trees.
I know a place on the riverbank.
Oh, I couldn't. It's bad form.
Just a picnic in broad daylight.
Jimmy! Jimmy!
Let's go right now.
But that's your mother. No.
She just can't let me out of her sight.
On with us. Come on, let's go.
Jimmy, I can't.
Quick. Oh, no picnic.
In a moment, we will return for the third act of...
Suspense.
But the dear old Thames is not ugly up toward the source.
Do you know that country?
A little bit. I was a boy with my parents.
That was before we moved to London.
Nice memories.
Yeah. Then the blitz.
They both killed in 1940.
Oh. Oh, Mrs. Grimes isn't your mother.
No, no. She adopted me.
One of those war orphanages.
Raised me since I was four.
Now I'm like her own son, she says.
Sharon, we're really alone here.
Behind the heather. Ah.
To be us, plague the weather.
Who can see us?
Who's immortal lines are those?
Hm. Fella name of Grimes.
Yeah, a great poet.
A fine stoller and a man...
A man who would like very much to be a gentleman.
Oh, you really wrote that.
I thought it was Swift or Moore or somebody.
You have a fine mind, my lady.
Discerning one, too.
But as I was observing, we are quite alone.
Now who really can see us?
The disabit's secluded, isn't it?
Oh, that bobby over there can see us.
What way?
What bobby?
Oh, you're tipping over the basket.
That bobby over there, he's coming this way.
Not a word.
Don't talk to him.
What's going on with you? You're shaking.
Let me talk.
But you nearly spoiled the sandwiches I made.
Jimmy, you're still shaking.
Good afternoon. Good day for a picnic.
You'd better really look at the clouds.
Yeah, it's clouding a bit. Always does this time of year.
Everything all right?
Yeah, quite.
Since all the murders last year,
we talked to the people now and then and asked them the time of day.
Well, it's time he was eating now.
Better be watching the rain clouds.
Afternoon.
Why do you act so strangely? He wasn't going to hurt you.
He was very pleasant.
Yeah, they all are. For a while.
If I pick you some daisies, may I have a sandwich?
Oh, look.
Daisies all around us.
Do I get the sandwich?
Of course you do. But first the daisies.
All right. But let me help you get up.
Would you hand me the bottle of wine?
You like daisies, Jimmy?
Oh, where I used to live, we got fields of them.
We lived on Daisy Bank Road.
Look out, you're spilling it.
It's a wild look on your face.
Better take it off.
We're having company again. This time too, Bobby.
It's the same one in a friend.
On your feet.
Come on, do as I say.
Why?
Walk this way. Only fast.
Just keep looking overhead as though you feel the rain.
Fast! Come on now, lively.
Jimmy!
Get to the edge of the park.
Take the first tram and I'll be along later.
Get going!
You're hurting my hand.
Get going!
You stay away from Mrs. Grimes.
In just a moment, we will return for the concluding act of...
Suspense.
Father?
Papa?
No, it's me, sweet child.
Your papa went to the pub, said it was Thursday night.
Mrs. Grimes, I'm confused. Has Jimmy been here?
Jimmy's with you, isn't he?
It was so strange, Mrs. Grimes.
We saw some bobbies and he ran.
Why did he run, Mrs. Grimes? Why did he? Why?
Did it spoil your picnic?
Of course it did. Where is he?
Why did he run, Mrs. Grimes?
I was so headstrong and I was so mixed up.
It was such a pretty afternoon. Did you sit down under a tree?
Did he read poetry to you?
Did he get that faraway look, like he was a little boy when he read to you?
And did you like the sound of his voice?
Did his voice sound deep in his chest?
Mrs. Grimes, you have father's key.
Why are you locking the door?
Did he tell you that your eyes were beautiful, that your hands were pretty?
And did he hold your hands?
Mrs. Grimes, will you let me out of this room?
I'm sorry, but you've made me uneasy.
Everything in this world will pass, my dear.
I never fear you shall be released to join.
Oh, Mrs. Sheridan, tell me more about Jimmy.
Did he make up a little rhyme to suit the occasion?
And did he...
Oh, that poor girl in Regions Park. Jimmy was so fond of her.
I had to follow her one day and make a daisy chain.
But in Bog Nor Regions, I couldn't find any daisies.
So I brought some all the way from Hampstead Heath.
A miserable journey on the train, but the little vixen in Hampstead Heath knew how strong I was before I gathered the daisies.
Jimmy was always so fond of picnics and would go dashing off.
So I have a beautiful daisy chain for you, my dear Sharon.
And I also have strong sinewy hands.
No.
Wonderfully strong like Jimmy's.
Father! Father!
Now poor Jimmy will really hang.
But I'd rather let that hangman get him than you or any other girl.
Better the hangman than you, Mrs. Grimes.
You see, you're very pretty, but I am stronger, you see.
Sharon, you are so pretty.
You do bad, and the others, they were so pretty.
Sharon! Sharon!
It's me. It's me, Jimmy.
Relax, Mrs. Grimes. Let go now.
Come along with you.
All right. Take Mrs. Grimes out of here.
Sharon, are you all right?
Oh, dear is my father.
I'm Inspector Crist, young lady. Your father's right here.
Sorry to have made you a sitting duck, so to speak,
but we've been outwitted by this Mrs. Grimes for one entire year.
And she's really Mrs. Mabel Dodds, Jimmy's foster mother.
I was in on it too, Sharon.
That is at the very last I was in on it.
You'll forgive your father?
Me too, Sharon.
You know, everybody thought I was the daisy chain murderer
until Scotland Yard got suspicious, and they arranged my escape.
Oh, you think we can...
You think we can ever have a civilized picnic?
Oh, Jimmy.
Can you ever have a picnic with a man who already has an image
cast at Madame Tussauds?
I'll think about it.
Suspense.
You've been listening to The Daisy Chain, written for suspense by John R. Forrest.
In a moment, the names of our players and a word about next week's story of suspense.
Heard in tonight's story were John Clark as Jimmy, Joan Loring as Sharon,
and Jane Rose as Mrs. Grimes.
Others in the cast were Brett Morrison, Marvin Peisner, and Mercer McLeod.
Listen again next week when we return with End of the Line by Murray Burnett,
another tale well calculated to keep you in.
Suspense.
The Kingston Trio next, followed by latest CBS News and Have Gun, will travel on CBS Radio.