Eleven Little Soldier Boys

Seven little soldier boys

- Seven little soldier boys chopping up sticks; One chopped hinself in halves and then there were Six.-

They all walked towards the body.
"he told me he was never going to leave this place", ms. Harington said.
"one said he stayed there.. and then there were seven", ms. Claythorne said. "do you see it now?"
the others looked at eachother.
"oh, come on, he didn't split his own head open himself, did he?!" she said.
they didn't reply and took the body inside, lied him in his bed, just like mr. Marston and mrs. Rogers.
"so we just let them rot in their beds?" ms. Harington asked.
"what else do you want to do with them?"
she stayed quiet.
"so what are we going to do then?" dr. Armstrong asked.
"we don't really have a choice but to stay here."
they all went doing their things and Lombard took ms. Harington apart.
"we need to find Owen", he whispered.
she smiled. "is this a secret?"
"no, but this is", he said and kissed her on her mouth, while putting a gun in her hand.
she looked at it surprised.
"don't tell anyone", he said and put it back in his trousers. "well, let's look for this mr. Owen then", he said and she nodded.
they walked towards Blore.
"Tubbs, come on", Lombard said.
"can you please not call me Tubbs?" he replied.
"are you coming?" Lombard asked. "Tubbs."
Blore stood up. they walked trough the whole house, searching for Owen.

after a few hours Lombard walked upstairs again, holding his finger on his lips. "found him", he whispered.
mr. Blore, ms. Harington and dr. Armstrong followed him down the stairs, as silent as possible. they walked through a corridor and stopped before a closed door. mr. Lombard grabbed his gun. Blore and Armstrong looked at him surprised and a bit scared. Lombard opened the door and held his gun ready to shoot. mr. Rogers let the things he was carrying fall on the ground. Lombard lowed his gun.
"Rogers?" he said surprised. "what are you doing here?"
"my wife died, so I need another place to sleep", he answered.
"and did you maybe see mr. Owen?"
"mr. Owen is not here."
"oh, sorry for disturbing then", Lombard said and closed the door again.
"since when do you have a gun?" Armstrong asked.
"I always have a gun."
"well, you could have told us!"

ms. Claythorne walked into the dining room and counted the emerald figures. seven. there were seven!

later in the afternoon mr. Blore, mr. Lombard, dr. Armstrong, ms. Harington, ms. Claythorne, mrs. Brent and judge Wargrave were sitting in the living room.
"so why did you bring a gun?"
"like I said, I always have a gun", Lombard replied.
"why didn't you tell us?"
"we all got secrets, right?" ms. Harington said.
"yeah, but a gun, I mean, sir, you could kill us all and I can imagine that you have no problems with doing that", mrs. Brent said.
"mrs. Brent he will not do that. we better focus on the murderer who IS in fact murdering us", Harington relplied.
"It's Rogers!" Blore said.
"no, it's not him, Tubbs", Lombard replied.
"how do you know?"
"instinct." Lombard looked at the others. "it's that mr. Owen, he's hiding somewhere. and when I find him, I'm going to make him number 22 with a bullet right here", he added and pointed at his forehead.
"how can you possibly say such things this easy?" Brent said.
he leaned back. "I just open my mouth and then it all comes out."
Justice Wargrave grabbed his letter from Owen and pointed at the signature. "U. N. Owen. husband and wife are both U. N. Owen, which means unknown", he said.
"so you're saying Owen doesn't even exist?"
he nodded.
"so one of us must be it."
"and what about you, ms. Harington? I heard you walking around the night when mrs. Rogers was killed", dr. Armstrong said.
"what?" she replied surprised. "I didn't kill them, I swear! and why would I, I didn't even know them!"
"it's Rogers, I tell you."
"Tubbs, let that poor man, it's not him!" Lombard replied.
"if you call me like that one more time.."
"then what?"
Blore stayed quiet.
mr. Rogers opened the door. "dinner's ready", he said and walked to the kitchen.
"well, don't think for one second that I'm gonna eat any of his food!" Blore said.

after dinner they went to their rooms. it was storming and the lights got off and on again the whole time. they all hesitated on the doorstep.
"well, let's go inside then", mrs. Brent said.
"yes, but we should lock our doors", ms. Claythorne added.
they all nodded and went inside.
mr. Lombard closed the door and sat down in a chair, holding his gun up towards the door, ready to shoot if that was necessary.
mr. Rogers went outside to chop some sticks for the fireplace, while the others were already in their bedrooms.

the next morning dr. Armstrong woke up. he opened his door and went to look for mr. Rogers, he wanted a cup of coffee.
"Rogers?"
there wasn't an answer.
he looked in the whole house and outside and finally found him lying on the ground at a place where he was chopping sticks. the doctor quickly walked back to the house. mr. Rogers, the poor man, was chopped in halves!