Clayton stared at him perplexedly for a moment.
“Nonsense!” he exclaimed. “I cannot agree with you. I know positively, Carter, that my mother never used drugs of any kind.”
“Don’t be too positive,” Nick replied. “The drug may have been administered without her knowledge.”
“By whom?”
“That’s the question. Possibly by Doctor Thorpe himself. Possibly by some one else, whose identity is not even suspected. There may be in connection with this affair, Clayton, various circumstances that we have not even dreamed of.”
“That is possible, of course,” Clayton nervously admitted. “But I cannot imagine any circumstances consistent with such a theory.”
“Don’t try to do so,” Nick replied. “Before undertaking to unearth the circumstances, Clayton, it will be better to find out positively whether I am right.”
“Can that be done?”
“I think so.”
“How? By what means?”