And Then There Were None

Lombard sat down again.

He said:

"You know, you may be right."

Blore said:

"Yes, but if so, where is he? We've searched the place. Outside and inside."

Vera said scornfully:

"We all searched for the revolver, didn't we, and couldn't find it? But it was somewhere all the time!"

Lombard murmured:

"There's a slight difference in size, my dear, between a man and a revolver."

Vera said:

"I don't care ­ I'm sure I'm right."

Blore murmured:

"Rather giving himself away, wasn't it? Actually mentioning a red herring in the verse. He could have written it up a bit different."

Vera cried:

"But don't you see, he's mad? It's all mad! The whole thing of going by the rhyme is mad! Dressing up the judge, killing Rogers when he was chopping sticks ­ drugging Mrs. Rogers so that she overslept herself ­ arranging for a bumblebee when Miss Brent died! It's like some horrible child playing a game. It's all got to fit in."

Blore said:

"Yes, you're right." He thought a minute. "At any rate there's no Zoo on the island. He'll have a bit of trouble getting over that."

Vera cried:

"Don't you see? We're the Zoo... Last night, we were hardly human any more. We're the Zoo..."

II

They spent the morning on the cliffs, taking it in turns to flash a mirror at the mainland.

There were no signs that any one saw them. No answering signals. The day was fine, with a slight haze. Below, the sea weaved in a gigantic swell. There were no boats out.

They had made another abortive search of the island. There was no trace of the missing physician.

Vera looked up at the house from where they were standing.

She thought:

"How odd... I'm almost happy. And yet I suppose I'm actually in danger...

Somehow ­ now ­ nothing seems to matter... not in daylight... I feel full of power ­ I feel that I can't die..."

Blore was looking at his wrist­watch. He said:

"It's two o'clock. What about lunch?"

Vera said obstinately:

"I'm not going back to the house. I'm going to stay here ­ in the open."

"Oh, come now, Miss Claythorne. Got to keep your strength up, you know."

Vera said:

"If I even see a tinned tongue, I shall be sick! I don't want any food. People go days on end with nothing sometimes when they're on a diet."

Blore said:

"Well, I need my meals regular. What about you, Mr. Lombard?"

Philip said:

"You know, I don't relish the idea of tinned tongue particularly. I'll stay here with Miss Claythorne."

Blore hesitated. Vera said:

"I shall be quite all right. I don't think he'll shoot me as soon as your back is turned if that's what you're afraid of."

Blore said:

"It's all right if you say so. But we agreed we ought not to separate."

Philip said:

"You're the one who wants to go into the lion's den. I'll come with you if you like?"

"No, you won't," said Blore. "You'll stay here."

Philip laughed.

"So you're still afraid of me? Why, I could shoot you both this very minute if I liked."

Blore said:

"Yes, but that wouldn't be according to plan. It's one at a time, and it's got to be done in a certain way."

"Well," said Philip, "you seem to know all about it."

"Of course," said Blore, "it's a bit jumpy going up to the house alone ­"

Philip said softly:

thing may be a lie. He may have got rid of Armstrong a couple of hours before that."

"How?"

Lombard shrugged his shoulders.

"That we don't know. But if you ask me, we've only one danger to fear ­ and that danger is Blore! What do we know about the man? Less than nothing! All this ex­ policeman story may be bunkum! He may be anybody ­ a mad millionaire ­ a crazy business man ­ an escaped inmate of Broadmoor. One thing's certain. He could have done every one of these crimes."

Vera had gone rather white. She said in a slightly breathless voice:

"And supposing he gets ­ us?"

Lombard said softly, patting the revolver in his pocket:

"I'm going to take very good care he doesn't."

Then he looked at her curiously.

"Touching faith in me, haven't you, Vera? Quite sure I wouldn't shoot you?"

Vera said:

"One has got to trust some one... As a matter of fact I think you're wrong about Blore. I still think it's Armstrong."

She turned to him suddenly.

"Don't you feel ­ all the time ­ that there's some one. Some one watching and waiting?"

Lombard said slowly:

"That's just nerves."

Vera said eagerly:

"Then you have felt it?"

She shivered. She bent a little closer.

"Tell me ­ you don't think ­" She broke off, went on: "I read a story once ­ about two judges that came to a small American town ­ from the Supreme Court. They administered justice ­ Absolute Justice. Because ­ they didn't come from this world at all..."

Lombard raised his eyebrows.

He said:

"Heavenly visitants, eh? No, I don't believe in the supernatural. This business is human enough."

Vera said in a low voice:

"Sometimes ­ I'm not sure..."

Lombard looked at her. He said:

They stared up at the house.

Lombard said:

"It came from there. We'd better go up and see."

"No, no, I'm not going."

"Please yourself. I am."

Vera said desperately:

"All right. I'll come with you."

They walked up the slope to the house. The terrace was peaceful and innocuous­ looking in the sunshine. They hesitated there a minute, then instead of entering by the front door, they made a cautious circuit of the house.

They found Blore. He was spread­eagled on the stone terrace on the east side, his head crushed and mangled by a great block of white marble.

Philip looked up. He said:

"Whose is that window just above?"

Vera said in a low shuddering voice:

"It's mine ­ and that's the clock from my mantelpiece... I remember now. It was ­ shaped like a bear."

She repeated and her voice shook and quavered: