Foreword: As some of you may have noticed already, the title of the chapter is the same as the title of Agatha Christie's most famous work. You'll find out why I named it the way it is. Anyway, the school year already started, so I finished the story in advance. I will update this story every week, so you would get to think on your own, and I'm starting my next story, so that way I'll have a few more chapters written before I finish this one. This will be the last chapter before I reveal who the killer is. If you have a guess, please say who you think the killer is in your review. I will send, if you want, a preview of the next story if you guess the killer right(unless you don't want a stranger's e-mail sent to you, of course, but I will send nothing more than the preview)! Enjoy, investigate, guess who the killer is, and review, please!

13

And Then There Were None

The five detectives went to the police station to see if the police found out whom the car belonged to. The policewoman wasn't there, but another policeman was there at the desk. When the detectives went to him, he raised his head and said, "Yes?"

"Hello, we came here earlier today and gave the license number of the car that almost hit one of us," Frank said. "The officer said that we would know by now."

The man called someone on the phone at his desk. In less than a minute, another officer appeared from inside the station. He was without a doubt Officer Holloway.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, looking at Frank with a suspicious look. "Was there something you were going to ask me?"

"Yes," George said. "Earlier today, before you arrested Frank, a black car almost ran over Nancy. We got the numbers of the license plate, so we came here to know whom the car belonged to."

"I'm sure you know who has the car, don't you?" Joe asked.

The officer nodded. "Seems like the car belonged to the victim, Sam Cantu. His car was missing when his body was found."

Suddenly, the hopes Nancy had were gone. She had been thinking to find out who was the culprit was by finding out the car he or she drove, but this killer turned out to be a lot smarter than she had expected.

"So, we are back to square one again?" George asked when the detective got stepped out of the police station. "But at least we are doing more to find out the real killer than those officers will in a hundred years; they are so convinced that Frank was the killer they virtually stopped the investigation!"

"And that's what I'm afraid of," Nancy said, knowing that George's statement was true and there was no way to argue with the police. She knew they were reaching for a grape high up on the tree without thinking of a way to get it other than do what was obvious.

"I should've taken a closer look at the driver!" George said in distress.

Joe shook his head. "I looked at the driver, but he was wearing a black ski mask. I couldn't even tell if the driver was a man or a woman."

Nancy was thinking. "I think we should go back to the hotel. It's no use trying to investigate when we don't have a clue who the killer is."

The five detectives went back to the inn. To their surprise, there was nobody at the inn. Not even Mrs. Morley was in the building. The place looked abandoned.

George felt uneasy entering the hotel. "It looks like everyone's suddenly…disappeared…"

Nancy nodded. "An old building like this one sure looks spooky without a person in it."

This reminded Nancy of the old buildings she had visited previously during her detective career. The first one had been the building where the two old ladies lived in The Hidden Staircase. It was Nancy's second mystery that ended with the struggle with the neighbor's housekeeper. She received the silver urn from the two ladies in the mansion. The then-sixteen-year-old girl found a hidden staircase leading from the mansion to Nathan Gombet's house.

Now that she thought of it, she hadn't visited Miss Rosemary or Miss Floretta in two years! She had solved the mystery during summer vacation. She was going to be a junior in River Heights High School and had to study, but when Allie Horner came to visit her, she couldn't help but get into yet another mystery.

Thinking about the old cases made Nancy nostalgic. She thought that most of the old mansions had a hidden passage or two, but this one was an exception.

"I guess the former residents didn't want to spend extra money building a hidden passageway or two," she murmured.

But the mansion was very old. The mansion she had investigated in The Hidden Staircase was built during the Civil War, and this one looked like it had been built around that time period. If her memory from American history class was correct, some of the buildings built during the war had passages built right in it so the people who lived there could escape when there was an attack from the Union. The Confederates started forming from 1861 and died off after four years, in 1865. This building seemed old enough to fit in that time period, so there had to be a hidden compartment.

The Sunshine State was getting less and less sunshine as time passed. By the time the hour hand of the clock reached eight, the place was pitch black. But now Nancy could see the full moon and the stars spread across the sky above.

"I'm worried about the guests," George said. "It's strange for them to disappear all at once!"

Nancy agreed. "I'll call Mrs. Morley's cell phone to make sure she's all right."

Taking out her cell phone, the girl detective dialed the woman's cell phone number. "Hello?" she called as she finished dialing.

There was no response.

Nancy looked at her wristwatch with expression of concern spreading across her face. It was almost nine-thirty. Where could she be?

Nancy went to the front desk and looked at the sheets of paper in the drawer. The drawer wasn't locked, so she let herself dig into the files. Nothing seemed important. She then tried the other drawer. This one was locked and she couldn't open it.

"I guess we can't call anybody. I don't know Jerome or Kent's phone numbers, and we just talked with Mr. Morley and Percival. Maybe we should call those two again. But I don't know their numbers, either."

"I know the phone number for both of them," Ned said with a grin. "I thought you'd need it, so I wrote down the phone number of Percival's office. And I'm sure you can find the number for Morley's restaurant by checking the directory over there." He took out a piece of paper and then pointed toward the Yellow Book that lay on the table.

"Splendid idea, Ned!" Nancy said. "Now we'll call them to check."

Nancy first dialed the restaurant Mr. Morley worked in. The chef answered, but it wasn't the man himself. "Hello?"

"Um, hi. I want to speak to Mr. Chris Morley. I'm really interested in what he—"

"Sorry, no can do," the voice said. The man had a deep, rough voice. It seemed like he was one of the singers in choir who sang the lowest notes.

"Why?"

"He just left because he only works till nine. It's nine already."

"Oh, I see."

"He'll be back Monday, so if you want to call him then, you are more than welcome. So, are you making a reservation for the veranda table? Six seats will cost you—"

"Um, no, thanks. I have to go. Bye!"

Nancy flipped her phone shut. She then sighed. "Seems like Kent's the only one we can reach right now…"

The girl detective tried the attorney's office. A woman answered the call, and the girl knew that the person was the woman who was at the main desk when the detectives went to the office to talk to Percival. "Keene, Dixon, and Stuart. How may I help you?"

"Hello. I want to talk to Mr. Stuart."

"Uh… Are you one of the teenagers who came just an hour and a half ago?"

"Yes. In fact, I want to talk to Mr. Stuart again, if you don't mind."

The woman paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, but Mr. Stuart just left right after you left the building."

Nancy was confused. Percival had lied to them about having a client come over! And he told the receptionist to say so! But, if Percival already left an hour and a half ago, then why wasn't he here?

Nancy thanked the woman and snapped the phone shut once again. "It's not good," she said to the others. She then explained the two conversations. All other detectives were baffled by the sudden disappearances of the suspects.

A scary thought came over the titian-haired detective's mind. "Uh-oh. Do you remember the time I said that another murder was going to happen?"

All except Frank nodded.

"Unfortunately, I was right."

The detectives went to their car to go to Miami for any clue they could find. When they came to an intersection, Frank stopped the car because the signal turned red. The van came to a quick halt. All of a sudden, a black car came dashing across the street, going northwest. The detectives suddenly realized that the car was the one that almost ran over Nancy!

"We have to follow them, Frank!" Joe said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to drive."

Frank obviously didn't want his brother to drive, since he, too, knew Joe's superhuman ability to make a car turn into a monster that run fast and destructively.

To Joe's displeasure and everyone's relief, Frank said, "No, I say I'll drive."

The older Hardy stepped on the gas pedal and turned the car left. Some of the cars nearby beeped in complaint, but that didn't seem to bother Frank at all. All he was seeing was the black car that was running in front of them.

The driver of the car saw the approaching vehicle.

"Curses! Those detectives are on to me!"

But when the person looked in the mirror, another figure could be seen tied up on the backseat. The person at the back seemed to be struggling to get free. But the ropes that tied the wrists and ankles were too strong to break free.

"Now, now, don't struggle like that," the driver said with a snicker. "In no time, my revenge will be finished."

The figure that was bound and gagged struggled even more.

"It's not going to help," said the driver. "You'll have lots of time to think about your past and where you've gone wrong once I get rid of you."

Then, with an evil grin, the captor stepped on the gas pedal. The car's speed increased to sixty miles per hour.

"You will regret what you've done. I'll make sure you die as painfully and agonizingly as possible."

The driver then started laughing hysterically. The person at the back feared the driver even more.

"As painfully and agonizingly as possible," the driver repeated.

"Oh, no! That driver is getting away fast!"

George shouted in despair as the car they were chasing gained speed.

"Isn't there a police car nearby?"

"I'm afraid not," Frank said. "Look around."

So the brunette did. She then saw that they were driving on the dark abandoned road. The buildings nearby seemed deserted and there wasn't a soul in sight.

"We are pretty far from the center of the city," Joe said. He took his cell phone out. "And there's no signal. That means we can't call for help now."

Nancy was worried. "I sure hope we can prevent that person from killing yet another one."

"Do you have an idea who the killer is?" George asked.

Nancy shook her head. "I should look over my detective notebook."

The titian-haired girl took out her notebook. "Okay, let me get this straight. Frank was knocked unconscious when he got a letter telling him to go to the dining room. George and I went down to the lobby, then saw Joe coming down the stairs. After a minute or so, we heard a crashing sound in the room. We opened the door and went inside. The door was not locked, and we found Frank knocked unconscious and holding a murder weapon.

"It seems like all the suspects had motive to kill Christina. And Sam was in an unlawful operation bringing in unregistered foreigners into the United States. And Percival was doing the operation with Sam.

"And just after Frank was arrested, we went to the dining room and found strange marks on the floor. It shaped like a semicircle and led to the door."

Nancy closed her eyes and thought about the entire case.

Suddenly, she remembered something about what one of the suspects had on.

Mrs. Morley had a glove with blood on it. Kent bought a new pair of shoes. Jerome had a scratch mark on his wrist. Mr. Morley had bandage on one of his fingers. Percival had a different tie.

Nancy opened her eyes in an instant. "I got it! I know who the killer is, who the next victim will be, the trick used to frame Frank, and the evidence that'll persuade the authority!"

"Really?" George asked, surprised.

Nancy nodded.

"There will be another murder tonight. We'll have to stop the murderer from taking another life!"

Postscript: So, the next two chapters will reveal who the killer is and how he/she framed Frank. Also, there will be a shocking ending, so you won't want to miss it!

Preview: abandoned barn, disappearing kidnapper, unveiling the murderer.