“Who is Dr. Abbott?” asked Nick, at the same time remembering that the telegrams to the insurance companies, announcing Mackenzie’s death, were signed “John A. Abbott.”
“Why, he’s the oldest physician in these parts. Has been here since a boy, and——”
“But was he Mackenzie’s physician?”
“Yes; and more than his physician. The two men were intimates. No one in Elmwood knew Mackenzie better than Abbott—not even his minister.”
“Then I want to meet Dr. Abbott as soon as possible,” Nick thought.
Ten minutes later he was introducing himself to “the oldest physician in Elmwood.”
Dr. Abbott was fully sixty years old; he was a large, well-fed, jolly-appearing gentleman, who no sooner looked Nick Carter in the eye than he impressed the latter most favorably.
“No matter how much of a villain Mackenzie was, this man was not his accomplice,” was Nick’s verdict of Dr. Abbott.
“Well, Mr. Ketchum, how can I serve you?” asked the doctor.
“I came to Elmwood to transact a little business with a client, and was shocked to learn as soon as I reached town that he is dead.”