"Who are you?" Milton demanded.
"That man," the lawyer remarked, indicating Drake by a nod of his head, "is a detective."
"Look here," Milton said nervously, "I don't want to get into any trouble over this thing."
"I didn't think you did… Wait a minute, Paul. Don't call Headquarters right away. It may be this man's innocent."
"Innocent!" Milton blazed. "Of course, I'm innocent. I performed a marriage ceremony and that's all."
Mason's face showed utter incredulity. "And didn't know the woman had a husband living?" he asked.
"Of course, I didn't know the woman had a husband living. What are you insinuating? Do you mean to intimate that I'd perform a bigamous marriage knowing that it was bigamous?"
Milton 's voice rose in quavering indignation.
Della Street stepped forward, slipped her arm through his and said soothingly, "It's all right. Don't lose your temper. That isn't what the Chief meant."
"The Chief?" Milton remarked, his eyes bulging.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Della Street remarked. "I shouldn't have said that."
"Just who are you and what do you want?" Milton asked.
"I'll answer your second question first. We want to know exactly what time you performed a marriage ceremony between Edith DeVoe and Frank Oafley."
Milton was now only too willing to talk.
"The parties were very anxious to keep the ceremony secret, but I didn't suspect it was a bigamous marriage. I received a call at approximately nine o'clock, asking me to come to a certain address. The party who called me on the telephone stated that it was a matter of the greatest importance, but didn't say what it was. He did say, however, that I would be very well compensated. I went to the address. I found Mr. Oafley, whom I had met previously, and a young woman who was introduced as Miss Edith DeVoe. They had a marriage license, properly issued, and, as a minister of the Gospel, I solemnized a marriage."
"Were there witnesses?"
"There were some men next door who were engaged in a little… er… gathering. I think perhaps they were playing cards. Mr. Oafley stepped to the door and asked them to witness the marriage ceremony."
"What time was the ceremony performed?"
"About ten o'clock."
"When did you leave there?"
"Twenty minutes later. There was quite a bit of goodnatured chaffing. The men were very nice, very cordial, very… well, er, convivial. There was a little party… Of course, I didn't touch anything myself, and I can't say that I approved of the spirit of the occasion, but, nevertheless, they were interesting people, and it was impossible to leave immediately."
"You mean they drank a toast to the health of the bride and groom?"
"To the health of the bride, the health of the groom, to my health."
"Do you know exactly what time you left?"
"No, it was around ten fifteen, perhaps a few minutes later than that."
"Were you well paid?" Perry Mason asked.
"Very well paid, very well paid, indeed."
Mason said slowly, "How long had you known Frank Oafley?"
"He has been in my church on several occasions."
"A regular member?"
"No. Not a regular member. I wouldn't class him as such, but he has been there, and I have met him."
"He introduced you to the young woman?"
"Yes. And the apartment was in her name, 'Edith DeVoe. "
"Did they tell you why they were anxious to have the marriage kept secret?"
"No, they didn't. I understood there was some question of opposition on the part of relatives. I think the young woman was a nurse, and Mr. Oafley is, I believe, of rather a wealthy family. However, I paid little attention to that. I performed the marriage ceremony and…"
"Kissed the bride, I presume," Mason interrupted with a laugh.
The Reverend Milton failed to see any ground for humor in the remark. He said very seriously, "As a matter of fact, I did not. The bride kissed me as I was leaving."
Mason nodded to Paul Drake, reached for the knob of the outer door. "That's all," he said.
"Was the marriage bigamous?"
"In view of what you tell me," Mason said, "I don't think it was. But I was checking up on it. You know, marriages that are performed under such circumstances are always open to suspicion."
The trio slipped hastily through the door into the night, leaving Milton blinking after them in bewildered appraisal. Then he slammed the door shut, and they heard the clink of the safety chain as it was slid into position, and the rasp of the bolt.
"I'm a lawyer," Mason remarked, "and darn seldom even bother to lock my door. This chap is supposed to have all sorts of faith in human nature, and he barricades himself behind a lot of thiefproof doodads."
"I know," Della Street said with a nervous giggle, "but brides don't have to follow you to the door to kiss you."
Mason chuckled.
"What's next?" Paul Drake asked.
"If we can survive the ordeal of another journey in that car of yours, we're going to see Winnie."
"You know where to find her at this hour of the night?" Drake asked.
"Yes. She lives back of the waffle place."
"We don't want to make a racket there. There'll be a merchants' patrol and…"
"We'll telephone her and tell her we're coming," Mason said. "That is, I'll tell her I'm coming. I'll introduce you two after we get there."
"Has it ever occurred to you," Drake asked slowly, "that this marriage ceremony was taking place at just about the time Ashton was being murdered in his room, thereby giving both Oafley and Edith DeVoe ironclad alibis?"
"A lot has occurred to me," Mason said, "that I'm not discussing right now. Let's go."
They piled into Drake's car. Mason stopped the car once to telephone Winifred he was coming, and then, when Drake had parked the car in front of the Waffle Kitchen, motioned them to silence as he placed them in the shadows near the doorway, while he stood in front of the plateglass door, and pounded with his knuckles.
A moment later he saw a bit of diffused light come from the door at the end of the passageway, and then Winifred's supple figure, attired in a flowing silk negligee, glided toward him. She shot the bolt and opened the door.
"What is it?" she asked.
Mason said, "You know Paul Drake. He was with me the first time I came here, and this is Della Street, my secretary."
Winifred gave a little exclamation of dismay. "I didn't know I was to meet people," she said, "and I don't want anyone to know about…"
"That's all right," Mason told her. "No one knows anything at all. We want to talk with you."
He pushed the door open, then when his companions had entered, carefully closed it.