"In my experience I have come into contact with lots of dope users.
I know just how they act, talk and look--and THAT GIRL IS NOT A DOPE
FIEND. In my opinion there are only two solutions to that mark on
the girl's arm. Either she has not slept well of late, and decided
to use something to help her, or else somebody jabbed her without
her knowledge. The first explanation is hardly likely, because
sleeplessness is treated in other ways. Now that you tell me this
man Atwood is a criminal, and that you found a bloodstain on the
doorknob, I am convinced that someone gave her an injection of
morphine so that this job could be pulled without her knowledge. You
probably know as well as I do, that the small purple mark,
accompanied by the swelling, which I noticed on her arm, would
result only from the hasty and careless use of the hypodermic
needle."

"What you tell me, Morgan," said Marsh, "confirms what I have
thought for some time. That is, that Jane Atwood is only the
innocent tool of her father, and the gang behind him. Perhaps not
even that. She exhibits none of the instincts or earmarks of the
criminal woman, and no woman with easy money at her command would
spend the hours and hard work which she does in the study of music.
Confidentially, Morgan, I like the girl, and what I have just told
you is one of the reasons why I have never attempted to arrest her
and force a confession. I felt that all I could really do was to
keep her under surveillance until such time as I could catch one of
the real criminals getting in touch with her. The father and his
gang have either simply been using her to a limited extent to pass
their counterfeit notes, or else he has included a few with money
which he gave her. Possibly he has maintained her in a home to have
a background of respectability to which he could retire in
emergencies. Letting her use counterfeit notes may have been just
one of the slips of which every criminal is guilty. A really clever
man is also clever enough to know that it doesn't pay to be a
criminal. No matter how long the rope, there is always an end to
it."

"Well," said Morgan, "there's no question that as matters now stand,
that girl is our only working point. I have already called on her,
and disclosed my identity as a detective, so as far as I am
concerned there is little that can be done in that direction. You,
as a tenant in this house, however, could cultivate her acquaintance
without arousing any r