Death of Rogers

Rogers, the butler on Indian Island, is the fifth victim of the unknown murderer, his death corresponding to the seventh verse of the nursery rhyme and reducing the number of china figures on the dining table to six.

Discovery and Circumstances

On the morning of August 11th, the remaining guests discover that Rogers is missing. Philip Lombard, having woken at daybreak and then slept again, finds at twenty-five to ten that no one has called him or brought tea. He taps on Blore's door and reports that Rogers is not in his room or anywhere else, that no kettle is on, and that the kitchen fire is not even lit. The party searches the house; Rogers' room is untenanted, though the bed has been slept in and his razor, sponge, and soap are wet, indicating he got up. They find him in the little wash-house across the yard. He had been chopping sticks in preparation for lighting the kitchen fire. The small chopper is still in his hand. A bigger chopper, a heavy affair, is leaning against the door, its metal stained a dull brown. It corresponds only too well with the deep wound in the back of Rogers' head.

The Murder and Its Method

Dr. Armstrong examines the body and states that the murderer must have crept up behind Rogers, swung the chopper once, and brought it down on his head as he was bending over. Blore examines the handle of the chopper and the flour sifter from the kitchen, finding no fingerprints—the handle was wiped afterwards. When Armstrong is asked whether great force would have been needed, he replies that a woman could have done it, adding that the girl Vera Claythorne is an athletic type and that Emily Brent, though fragile-looking, likely has wiry strength, and that anyone mentally unhinged possesses unsuspected strength. The judge nods thoughtfully.

The Diminishing Figures

Earlier, when the party first gathers in the dining room, Vera Claythorne notices that only six china figures remain in the middle of the table. The rhyme's seventh verse—"Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six"—has been fulfilled. The discovery of Rogers' body confirms the pattern: the murderer is adhering closely to the nursery rhyme, killing each victim in a manner that matches the corresponding verse.

Aftermath and Suspicion

After the body is found, Vera Claythorne, standing in the yard, begins laughing wildly and asks whether bees are kept on the island, reciting the next verse of the rhyme. Dr. Armstrong strikes her to stop the hysteria. The party gathers sticks and takes them into the kitchen, where Vera and Emily Brent prepare breakfast. Blore, watching Emily Brent's calm demeanor, voices his suspicion that she is the murderer, citing her religious mania and her lack of fear in wandering the island alone. Lombard counters that if she were innocent, she would be too scared to go out by herself, and that only the criminal would feel safe. The tension among the survivors deepens as they realize that one of them is the killer, and that the nursery rhyme is the blueprint for their deaths.