Death of Mrs. Rogers

Mrs. Rogers, the pale, ghostlike cook and wife of the butler Thomas Rogers, is the second person to die on Indian Island, her death occurring in her sleep on the night of August 8th, shortly after the gramophone accusation. Her demise, initially appearing to be a natural consequence of shock or a weak heart, is later confirmed as murder by overdose, marking the second fulfillment of the nursery rhyme: "One overslept himself and then there were eight."

Identity and Background

Mrs. Rogers is introduced as a woman of extreme nervousness and fear. When Vera Claythorne first meets her, she is described as a "white bloodless ghost of a woman" with a flat, monotonous voice and "queer light eyes that shifted the whole time from place to place." Vera immediately senses that Mrs. Rogers "looks frightened of her own shadow" and "walked in mortal fear." She and her husband, Thomas Rogers, have been employed on the island for only two days before the guests arrive, having been engaged by letter through an agency. Mrs. Rogers is a good cook, capable of managing the large party despite the absence of the Owens, but her demeanor is one of constant, palpable terror.

The Gramophone Accusation and Immediate Collapse

During the dinner on the evening of August 8th, a gramophone record, titled "Swan Song," plays a voice that accuses each guest of murder. The Rogerses are charged with causing the death of Jennifer Brady on May 6, 1929. The effect on Mrs. Rogers is immediate and catastrophic. As the voice finishes, she screams from outside the room, and a thud is heard. Philip Lombard and Anthony Marston find her lying in a huddled mass. She is carried into the drawing-room, where she faints. When she is revived with brandy, her breath comes in quick gasps, and her eyes, filled with fright, go "round and round the ring of faces." Her husband, Rogers, urgently tries to calm her, but she is deeply shaken, describing the voice as "like a judgment." Dr. Armstrong gives her a sedative—a mild dose of trional—and she is helped to bed by her husband and the doctor.

Discovery of Death

The next morning, Rogers wakes Dr. Armstrong in a panic, unable to rouse his wife. Armstrong finds Mrs. Rogers lying peacefully on her side, but when he lifts her cold hand and raises her eyelid, he confirms she is dead. There is no sign of violence or struggle. A search of her room reveals no sleeping draughts or tablets, and Rogers insists she took nothing except what the doctor gave her. The doctor cannot issue a certificate, as he has no knowledge of her state of health, and the cause of death is initially unclear.

Theories and Investigation

At breakfast, the guests debate the cause of Mrs. Rogers' death. Emily Brent suggests it was an act of God, a punishment for her sin, stating, "She literally died of fear." Ex-Inspector Blore, however, proposes a more sinister theory: that Rogers, fearing his wife would break down and confess their crime, poisoned her to silence her permanently. Blore argues that Rogers had the opportunity and motive, and that the absence of a cup by her bedside only proves he washed it. Dr. Armstrong later reveals to Philip Lombard that the Rogerses' crime likely involved withholding amyl nitrite during a cardiac attack, a form of murder by omission that is impossible to prove. The discovery that the number of china Indian figures on the dining table has decreased from ten to eight—matching the two deaths—confirms that Mrs. Rogers' death is not a coincidence but part of a deliberate, patterned plan.

Confirmation of Murder

Justice Wargrave's posthumous confession reveals the truth: Mrs. Rogers was murdered by him. He had been prescribed chloral hydrate for pain and had accumulated a lethal amount. During the confusion after the gramophone accusation, when Rogers brought brandy for his wife, Wargrave slipped the chloral into the brandy as he passed the table. The drug, combined with the sedative given by Dr. Armstrong, caused her to "oversleep herself" permanently. Her death, like all the others, was a calculated execution by a man who saw himself as an instrument of justice, targeting those beyond the reach of the law.