Speaker 1: You were listening to Strawberry Spring, based on a short
Speaker 1: story by Stephen King to Henry, I've missed you. Without you,
Speaker 1: there could be no knee. My knife is sharp and
Speaker 1: I'm glad to be getting back to work. I hope
Speaker 1: you don't mind, but I needed your car to move.
Speaker 1: Some things considered this an invitation. It's time to get reacquainted.
Speaker 1: Let's just keep this between us for now. Congratulations on
Speaker 1: the baby. M pay to Sharon n. It's just a
Speaker 1: word of warning out there tonight. The fog is rolled
Speaker 1: in once again on this view the full spring, So
Speaker 1: drive slow, walk fast, don't forget to listen this weekend
Speaker 1: when we count down and congratulate the biggest hits of
Speaker 1: the six here on w s k X. Up next
Speaker 1: the later from What am I gonna do? Why is
Speaker 1: spring heel Jack targeting me? Now? Do I take this
Speaker 1: to the police. I can't make the same mistake twice, Henry,
Speaker 1: Are you okay? Huh? Yeah? Sorry? I thought I heard you.
Speaker 1: Ye Oh, I tripped over some boxes. I'll be right in.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry about before. It's just my hormones. I'm really
Speaker 1: on edge. I get it. You're carrying our baby. Get
Speaker 1: some rest, Okay, I won't be late. I love you.
Speaker 1: He knows where I live. Nose Reach is pregnant. How
Speaker 1: long has he been watching? I can't let him getting
Speaker 1: near Rachel or the baby. We must miss something eight
Speaker 1: years ago and now I have to think about what
Speaker 1: happened that could have led us to him. Good morning,
Speaker 1: New Sharon. If you haven't looked outside yet, don't bother.
Speaker 1: We're about to break in another record for rain on
Speaker 1: this day, March one. Mark that one down in your calendars,
Speaker 1: because it's not every day we break records in New Sharon.
Speaker 1: We mostly just break herds. I guess you could say
Speaker 1: we're just a bunch of lady killers. And remember to
Speaker 1: keep a lookout for spring heel Jack. He's still out there.
Speaker 1: Stay safe, my friends, Stay safe. The rain hit hard
Speaker 1: that week the quad filled with money run off. It
Speaker 1: was heavy and thick, like a marsh in the middle
Speaker 1: of the campus. Not that it mattered much. We're in
Speaker 1: a state of perpetual lockdown. Curfew is still in effect,
Speaker 1: and to make matters worse, Captain Spencer had a new idea,
Speaker 1: one that wouldn't sit well with too many people. Spring
Speaker 1: Break can't get here fast enough. I can barely find
Speaker 1: time to study with everything that's going on. I have
Speaker 1: of a journalist face or famine. You figure out what
Speaker 1: you're doing after graduation. I'm not sure yet, still thinking
Speaker 1: New York, Boston, maybe d S. I need to come
Speaker 1: up with a plan. How about you? Same here depends
Speaker 1: on if Rachel decides to go to grad school. I
Speaker 1: just need one great story, and I will write my
Speaker 1: ticket part in the pun. If I know you, you
Speaker 1: think this could be that story. I don't think. That
Speaker 1: doesn't occur to me. I guess one good story can
Speaker 1: make all the difference. One great story. The question is
Speaker 1: how does it all end? Chelsea? Can you wait until
Speaker 1: I say it's okay to come in? No, you're gonna
Speaker 1: want to hear this. My dad, the captain of Pigs,
Speaker 1: is about to do something big. What another curfew? No, curf,
Speaker 1: you ain't got nothing on this. He's going to put
Speaker 1: undercover pigs on campus. What do you mean, young old
Speaker 1: undercover cops. We won't know who they are. He's going
Speaker 1: to have a bunch. They look like students, teachers, janitor,
Speaker 1: do you name it? Walking around here hoping to catch
Speaker 1: spring Hill Jack in the act. How's that going to work.
Speaker 1: Our civil liberties are being threatened if we don't even
Speaker 1: know who the cops are. I know he doesn't care.
Speaker 1: He just wants to stop the killer. This is crazy.
Speaker 1: You don't know the half of it. The blue boys
Speaker 1: are getting pulled off, so now there will be less
Speaker 1: uniformed cops. We have to write this up. I'll take
Speaker 1: this one, Henry, keep your ears open, Chelsea. Yeah, good work.
Speaker 1: Now both of you get out. I have worked to
Speaker 1: do and published a brutal takedown of Captain Spencer on
Speaker 1: the New Sharon Police Department. She was nothing of not emphatic.
Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure her take meant as much sense
Speaker 1: to me as it did to her. I sort of
Speaker 1: thought it made sense to have undercover police on campus.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you can't tell who the students are,
Speaker 1: then neither could Jack. And after all, wasn't that the goal.
Speaker 1: I didn't quite know what Anne was railing against back then.
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure she did either. I left the
Speaker 1: paper and headed home. There never seemed to be enough
Speaker 1: time to study. The sun was starting to set. The
Speaker 1: fog rolled in like clockwork. It drifted between the tree
Speaker 1: line buildings, hiding them from the view, as if it
Speaker 1: played a magical hide go seek. It was soft and white,
Speaker 1: like pillowy clouds, in substantial but ever present. At the
Speaker 1: same time, the fog was dancing, frightening. It was covered
Speaker 1: for a killer spring heel Jack was a man. No
Speaker 1: one seemed to doubt that the murders were brutal, and
Speaker 1: if Rachel was right, sexual in nature. But the fog
Speaker 1: was his accomplice, And to me it seemed like a woman.
Speaker 1: She was beautiful, but in a way even more dangerous
Speaker 1: than springing oh Jack. She was covering his tracks. It
Speaker 1: was as if our school was caught between them, the
Speaker 1: third wheel and a deadly lover's trying part of the
Speaker 1: marriage consummated in blood. I sat and smoked, watching the
Speaker 1: path lights come on in the looming darkness. At the
Speaker 1: end of my cigarette, the red hot cyndric load reflecting
Speaker 1: off the fog with an orange hue that almost felt comforting. Almost.
Speaker 1: I wondered if it was all over. Two killing spreeze
Speaker 1: have expiration dates. Two girls were dead. Maybe that was
Speaker 1: the end of it. I finished my cigarette and hit
Speaker 1: it home. Hey Henry, Hey Kevin, what's up? Do you
Speaker 1: want a beer? You got anything? Stronger. Not at the moment.
Speaker 1: Then if you have one hand, yeah, sure, why not
Speaker 1: offer up a toast? But I can't think of anything
Speaker 1: worth toasting too with the mom it's a little warm
Speaker 1: in here. Mind if I open a window, suit yourself.
Speaker 1: It's gonna snow soon. And is that the radio weather
Speaker 1: report talking or you me? Who needs a weather man?
Speaker 1: Just take a look outside. I don't see anything. Look
Speaker 1: at the sky, and snow is about to move in.
Speaker 1: Light bounces off the clouds. The sky turns just a
Speaker 1: little pink. Can you see it? I guess a little
Speaker 1: I've never noticed before. You call it yourself a journalist.
Speaker 1: Sailors used to say red skies at night, sailors delight
Speaker 1: red sky at warning. Sailors take warning. Warnings seem to
Speaker 1: be able. We could use a little more of right
Speaker 1: about that thing? You know? It's so strange, not a
Speaker 1: single lonely soul walking the campus. It's like they wouldn't
Speaker 1: be caught dead on the streets. Seriously, what poor choice
Speaker 1: of words you could say that. I think it's the weather.
Speaker 1: It has a mind of its own. Hey, Henry, have
Speaker 1: you ever heard of strawberry spring? I'm not sure? Maybe
Speaker 1: a long time ago. Something grandmother's talk about right, like
Speaker 1: a wive's tale. Strawberry spring is like Indian summer, only
Speaker 1: way less common. How so well, you get a good
Speaker 1: Indian summer in this part of the country once every
Speaker 1: two to three years. Weather like we're having, it's only
Speaker 1: supposed to come every eight years. It's a false spring,
Speaker 1: a lying spring, like Indian summer is a false summer.
Speaker 1: I never thought of it that way. Before you got
Speaker 1: another smoke. My grandmother used to say, Strawberry spring means
Speaker 1: the worst norther of winter was still on the way,
Speaker 1: and the longer last the heart of the storm. Ah.
Speaker 1: Folk tales never believe a word of it. But the
Speaker 1: spring heeled Jack. What about him? It makes me nervous?
Speaker 1: What about you? Doesn't it concern you? He could be anyone? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he could. At that the whole world is a bit
Speaker 1: strange except for the and me. And I'm not so
Speaker 1: sure about the Hey, you want to go over to
Speaker 1: the Union and shoot some pool. I don't have any cash.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll float you a tense spot. I can't history.
Speaker 1: Mid terms are coming up. I'm gonna stay and go
Speaker 1: over some notes. Suit yourself. Hey, Henry, you know what
Speaker 1: they say, No, keV, I don't. What's that Those who
Speaker 1: ignore the past are doomed to repeat it? Last chance? Sorry,
Speaker 1: but not tonight. If I get done early enough, I
Speaker 1: might try to sneak across campus and see Rachel O Rebel.
Speaker 1: Better be careful. You don't want to get caught out
Speaker 1: after dark. Never gonna happen. I could walk through this
Speaker 1: campus blindfolded, and you've never seen me. I hope you're right.
Speaker 1: I watched Kevin out the window. The faint cherry red
Speaker 1: fireball on the end of the cigarette disappeared into the fog.
Speaker 1: For a long time after he was gone, I stared
Speaker 1: out the window. I don't know why. I could barely
Speaker 1: see my hand in front of my face. I sat
Speaker 1: on the ledge with a book in my lap. I
Speaker 1: never turned a page. Part of me new who something
Speaker 1: was still out there walking in the shadows where the
Speaker 1: fog was now in charge. It took about an hour
Speaker 1: of staring at the words on the page before I
Speaker 1: figured if I was gonna waste time, I might as
Speaker 1: well waste it with rachel m hmm. I didn't put
Speaker 1: too much stock in anything Kevin said. He was like
Speaker 1: a dime store philosopher, But I'll be damned if he
Speaker 1: didn't predict a significant snowfall. The pink sky turned gray
Speaker 1: as the snow fell. Little flurries of white dots drifted down.
Speaker 1: I caught a couple of snowflakes on my tongue. I
Speaker 1: hadn't done that in years. Last time was probably when
Speaker 1: my mom and brother was still alive. For a brief
Speaker 1: shining moment, I smiled. I really smiled. Been any eternity
Speaker 1: since I smiled? The world was turned upside down and
Speaker 1: we were all powerless to turn it back over. I
Speaker 1: don't know how long I stood out of the snow.
Speaker 1: I lost track of time. By the time I looked
Speaker 1: at my watch, hours had passed. I finally wandered up
Speaker 1: to Rachel's place. Thankfully her lights were still on. M H,
Speaker 1: does it have a recurred to you? Call first? No?
Speaker 1: You know mid terms are coming up. Don't you have
Speaker 1: to study? I do, but you know what? It can wait?
Speaker 1: Come outside with me. It's snowing. I don't even have
Speaker 1: to jack it on. Well, then hurry up and get
Speaker 1: one who knows how long this is gonna last. Ye,
Speaker 1: I can hardly see a thing where everything I don't know,
Speaker 1: but let's find a big enough place to make some snowing.
Speaker 1: No angels, it's gone into you. You tell me you're
Speaker 1: the psychiatrist. I'd say for some reason, you're trying to
Speaker 1: rediscover your inner child. That sounds good to me. Here,
Speaker 1: spread your arms in your legs. I've never done what
Speaker 1: you've seriously never made a snow angel. Snake comes surprised you.
Speaker 1: But you don't have a lot of snowstorms in the South. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: no better time than the present. That should be good. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's get up. We'll see how we did here. Let
Speaker 1: me help you. Oh no, come on, let's see where
Speaker 1: it's coming from. I see the lights. Come on this way,
Speaker 1: I'm coming. It looks worse than it is that the
Speaker 1: lights are reflected on the fog. Totally ships aground six.
Speaker 1: Pay move your flashlight. I can't see. Stay back, both
Speaker 1: of you. This is an active crime scene. What happened
Speaker 1: there was another murder? I need you both to back
Speaker 1: off the way. Captain Spencer really missed this. Look how
Speaker 1: many cops are here and someone was murdered and it's
Speaker 1: a hard to see fog that I count? How do
Speaker 1: these sucking cops. Yeah, and that one in uniform. That
Speaker 1: means they were all patrolling and Jack was able to strike.
Speaker 1: It was crazy. All I could keep thinking was what
Speaker 1: Kevin said to me. Strawberry spring was a false spring,
Speaker 1: a line spring. The fog aided an embedded spring heeled Jack.
Speaker 1: There was so much chaos, too many cops dressed like
Speaker 1: college students. We didn't have a hard time inching our
Speaker 1: way towards the crime scene. Follow me and walk towards
Speaker 1: The cops just act like, hey, you need a light? Thanks?
Speaker 1: I love the scene. Huh? Sure is? I haven't seen
Speaker 1: anything like it? Did you see the first crime scene
Speaker 1: I was on that night? There's nothing like this. Did
Speaker 1: you see what the sick best It did to this one?
Speaker 1: Gild all right propped her up behind the wheel of
Speaker 1: her sixty Corvette? What do you mean? Propped her up?
Speaker 1: Propped up against the wheel? Do you have a choice?
Speaker 1: Why not? Because that top half was all that was
Speaker 1: left of her. We found part of her body in
Speaker 1: the back seat and the rest of her in the trunk.
Speaker 1: That's the least of it. The sick bestard right across
Speaker 1: the windshield and a blood What are you write? Cash
Speaker 1: me if you can. He's challenging us. Have you identified
Speaker 1: the victim? Yeah, she had a school idea on her
Speaker 1: poor thing. Her name was adle Purpose. I have to go, hey,
Speaker 1: are you okay? No, I'm not okay. What the hell
Speaker 1: is going on here? We gotta muster into something because
Speaker 1: it's inhuman I know. Can you stay with me, Charry?
Speaker 1: Of course, I'll make you some team. Can I use
Speaker 1: your phone? You're gonna call at this alarys to in
Speaker 1: the morning. I have to call Anne. Nobody knows about
Speaker 1: this yet. We get ahead of it and get an
Speaker 1: afternoon edition out. And you're worried about calling Anne at
Speaker 1: a time like this. You know what, why don't you
Speaker 1: go tell her in person? Get out? Wait what, Rachel,
Speaker 1: This doesn't make any sense. You spend every waking moment
Speaker 1: with her, So why don't you go to her and
Speaker 1: tell her all about Adele Perkins, the poor girl who
Speaker 1: was cut in half, disembodied and left in her car
Speaker 1: in the middle of campus. You're being irrational. This is
Speaker 1: what we do. We have a breaking story. We follow.
Speaker 1: It is what you do. What we are you referring to?
Speaker 1: Don't get all psychoanalytical army right now? Why not Henry.
Speaker 1: There's a killer out there. He's murdered three girls. No
Speaker 1: one knows who he is, why he's doing it. You've
Speaker 1: turned it into some kind of game. You're wondering around
Speaker 1: at all hours of the night. You claim you can't
Speaker 1: sleep since when for the last two years we've been dating,
Speaker 1: you've slept like a baby. I'm not the crazy one.
Speaker 1: What are you doing out there in the fog? Do
Speaker 1: you think you're gonna catch this guy singlehandedly? This spring
Speaker 1: Hill jack is cutting women in half? Do you really
Speaker 1: think you're five ft ten one d sixty pound frame
Speaker 1: is a match for this guy. I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to catch anyone, aren't you. Maybe you're trying to
Speaker 1: catch Anne? You've lost your mind? Good I I get
Speaker 1: better that way. Look, I know you're under a ton
Speaker 1: of pressure with mid term so I am not doing
Speaker 1: this right now. You have a story to break, Okay,
Speaker 1: good Anne, A good night. It was a short walk
Speaker 1: to Hand's place, so I figured i'd listen to the
Speaker 1: radio for some company work by Wilson Pickett. These days,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be called dead outside in the midnight hour.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that's not what Wilson had mine, but he
Speaker 1: was waiting until no one else was around to hold
Speaker 1: or do things. Kind of takes on a whole new
Speaker 1: meaning with spring yield, jack on the loose. Something to
Speaker 1: think about anyway, if you have any requests, give me
Speaker 1: called the station. I'm up until you go to sleep.
Speaker 1: Rachel was being irrationally. I didn't have feelings for Anne,
Speaker 1: but with everything going on, everyone was at their breaking point.
Speaker 1: Adele Perkins was the third girl to be killed inside
Speaker 1: of a week. As I walked through town, past apartments
Speaker 1: and the houses, I couldn't help but think. Everyone has
Speaker 1: a sleep, they're peaceful, but in just a few short
Speaker 1: hours they're gonna wake up and find out another girl
Speaker 1: is dead. H Jesus, Henry, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1: It's almost three in the morning. Rachel and I had
Speaker 1: a fight. Can I come in? If you do how
Speaker 1: to fight? Why don't you go home? Because you're the
Speaker 1: reason we got into a fight. I told her I
Speaker 1: had to talk to you. I don't get it. And
Speaker 1: there's been another murder. We were out tonight and stumbled
Speaker 1: on the police right after it happened. But the police,
Speaker 1: they were out undercover. You should have seen it, or
Speaker 1: maybe you shouldn't have. But it's the worst one yet.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Henry, he knew the police were going
Speaker 1: to be undercover. How stupid. If they're wandering around campus
Speaker 1: looking like students, he looks just like them. Maybe nobody
Speaker 1: knows who the cops are. But it's an even better
Speaker 1: way for ring heeled jack to move in between students.
Speaker 1: What a mess you're Captain Spencer didn't take any of
Speaker 1: that into consideration. Do we know who the victim was?
Speaker 1: Adele Perkins? Did you know her? Oh? Did you? I
Speaker 1: felt terrible. I didn't know her, but someone was going
Speaker 1: to know her. Someone was going to be devastated. The
Speaker 1: police weren't any closer and finding the killer. Maybe Rachel
Speaker 1: was right. Maybe subconsciously, I couldn't sleep because I was
Speaker 1: trying to catch the guy. By mid afternoon, we got
Speaker 1: the school. Adele Perkins was twenty one junor. She worked
Speaker 1: at the union from six to eleven at night, facing drunk,
Speaker 1: frad guys and starving students who barely had enough money
Speaker 1: to eat, let alone tip. The union was just across
Speaker 1: the street from the library, so I'd have to imagine
Speaker 1: for the last three nights she had it pretty easy
Speaker 1: curfew was in place. The crowds had dwindled down to
Speaker 1: hungry cops on the night shift and a random teacher
Speaker 1: to picking up food for the drive home from campus.
Speaker 1: We didn't have a lot to go on to tell
Speaker 1: Adele's story, but none of that mattered. The story wasn't
Speaker 1: about the victims anymore. Now it was about the killer
Speaker 1: springing Jack. The campus was never going to be the
Speaker 1: same again. Neither was I. If there was any doubt,
Speaker 1: that all vanished into thin air when the letter arrived
Speaker 1: late the next day, and I haven't slept. What's so
Speaker 1: important that it couldn't wane until later? Henry? This came
Speaker 1: about an hour or now. That's a tress to you?
Speaker 1: Is that written? And yes? He wrote? In blood? What's
Speaker 1: that say? Dear Henry? I keep reading your stories about me.
Speaker 1: The police tried to fool me last night. I had
Speaker 1: to laugh when they tried to pretend to be one
Speaker 1: of us. Who do they think they're kidding? You? And
Speaker 1: I knew better. I have my type and she's everywhere.
Speaker 1: Last night's distraction worked out well. She barely had time
Speaker 1: to scream, how can they catch me? Now? I love
Speaker 1: my work and can't wait to start again. Pay close attention.
Speaker 1: I'm about to start a new game. I thought that
Speaker 1: writing and blood would be hard. It turns out it
Speaker 1: coagulates fast, but not fast enough for my next number.
Speaker 1: I'll send it to the police as a memento. Do
Speaker 1: me a favor. Hold on to this letter until I'm done.
Speaker 1: We don't want to ruin the surprise. My night's so
Speaker 1: nice and sharp. I want to get to work right away.
Speaker 1: Good luck. PS. I like the name spring heel Jack.
Speaker 1: It's very pointed. I hope it sticks. Get it? Ha
Speaker 1: ha ha? Do you have any water in here? Hey?
Speaker 1: What's going on? Not? Now? He's been he's been reading
Speaker 1: my editorials. He knows who I am. Hold on a minute,
Speaker 1: How do we know it's not a hoax? How do
Speaker 1: we know it's not? Can I see it? Is it real? Blood?
Speaker 1: Could it be right? I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 1: anything right now? All right? All I know is we
Speaker 1: should call the cops. Now, let's just think about it.
Speaker 1: If it is real, you have a direct connection to
Speaker 1: spring heel Jack. That could be the difference between breaking
Speaker 1: the story and someone else getting it. We have no idea.
Speaker 1: If there are clues here that could help he said
Speaker 1: to wait. What if you turn it over and everyone
Speaker 1: goes nuts again? What if that's what he's counting on?
Speaker 1: Another distraction. Let's get something to eat before it gets
Speaker 1: too late. We're still on lockdown. We can talk about
Speaker 1: it over dinner. This could be a key pe of evidence,
Speaker 1: but it could be a prank either way. We have
Speaker 1: some time before I could start Let's go Why so
Speaker 1: hush hush. We have some things to discuss. We can't
Speaker 1: talk about it yet. Nothing personal. We'll talk tomorrow. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: I'll just keep getting inside info and passing it off
Speaker 1: to you guys. Thanks, passers, see you tomorrow. Hey, who
Speaker 1: goes there? Hey Officer Findley, can you just give me
Speaker 1: some space? Chelsea Spencer? Is that? Yes, it's me. You
Speaker 1: need to get home. It's already after curfew. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I know what time it is. What are you
Speaker 1: going to do? Tell my father? Why don't I escort you? Huh?
Speaker 1: I'm the last thing I wanted to be seen with
Speaker 1: some gig who works for my father. Thanks, but no, thanks,
Speaker 1: I'll take my chances. Awesome. Hey, I told you I
Speaker 1: don't want to please escort. Seriously, my dad is not
Speaker 1: going to be impressed that some horrified security guard walked
Speaker 1: his daughter home for all I know your spring Hill Jack. Okay,
Speaker 1: this isn't funny. My dad is the police captain. When
Speaker 1: he finds out you're messing with me, She's gonna mess
Speaker 1: with you. I'm serious. Will you please stop? You know what?
Speaker 1: Fuck you? I'm going home. You can allo means you want,
Speaker 1: but you gotta tea because this is the Latti Films.
Speaker 1: Yeah did it. Strawberry Spring is a production of Audio
Speaker 1: Up Media and I Heart Radio, based on a short
Speaker 1: story by Stephen King. Executive produced by Lee Metzker, Jared
Speaker 1: Gootstadt and Philip Alberstad. Written and directed by the Lee Metzker,
Speaker 1: Starring Garrett Headlund, My Little vent Amilia Horizon, Guardiola, Sydney Sweeney,
Speaker 1: Ken Marino, Al Madrigal and Brett Passenger. Audio Up in
Speaker 1: house production by Georgiana Glick, Franzheim and Laura Ramada, Edited
Speaker 1: by Carry Caulfield, Eric and Jeremiah Zimmerman. Sound design and
Speaker 1: mixed by Jeremiah Zimmerman, scored by Jeff Peters. Songs and
Speaker 1: music by Jared Gootstadt and Jesse Stephen Burke. Strawberry Spring
Speaker 1: is published in Stephen King's short story collection night Shift,
Speaker 1: available in paperback and ebook from Anchor Books, and as
Speaker 1: an audio book from Penguin Random House Audio. For the
Speaker 1: full list of production credits, please visit audio dot com.
Speaker 1: You can find more podcasts from I Heart Radio on
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. Good Body Up