I woke up rather late the next morning to the smell of something burning. With a bit of panic, I jerked out of bed, only to see Sheila drop of fiery bit of paper into an ashtray.

"Not here Sheila!" I moaned. It was late noon when I was finally dressed and ready for the day. Sheila insisted we stop by the nearest cafe for brunch, despite all her concerns last night of our being seen. She was always a puzzle, but then always in the end seemed to know what she was doing.

At the café, I enjoyed a nice hot chocolate and a chocolate chip muffin while Sheila merely sipped at some orange juice and watched the people around her. At one point she turned toward me and whispered.

"That man in the booth, he's been watching us. I'm not sure what he wants, but he doesn't even seem to be hiding the fact." I glanced over to the booth where there was indeed a young man with some coffee who would occasionally glance up at us and then would drop his eyes back to his coffee mug.

"I think we have an admirer," I mused with a grin.

"Really?" Sheila responded surprised. Romance was the one thing in the universe it seemed that would always be over her head. She turned back towards the counter indifferently and started looking at the clock and with a sigh, I took the hint and snapped a lid over my hot chocolate.

"Shall we go?" I suggested. Sheila nodded, businesslike, and we started to leave. As I slipped of the stool, the young man started towards us.

"Hey, are you two from Utah?" He asked suddenly.

"Sort of," I responded. He grinned

"Thought so, sorry, but the cougar and the hot chocolate kind of gave it away," he said nodding to the small white cougar on the sleaze of my shirt. He had succeeded in catching Sheila's attention. "So what part of Utah?" I looked at Sheila, a little unsure of giving out too much information to strangers.

"I'm from Springville, but my friend is actually from another state entirely."

"Ok, I just have cousins from Salt Lake. I've been to Provo a couple times too," he replied.

"Really? I'm at school there now," I responded socially. Then we fell into and awkward pause.

"My name's Jimmy by the way, Jimmy Forrest."

"Nice to meet you Jimmy, I'm Jo and this is my friend..."

"Sheila." She said shortly and put out her hand. I could tell she was busy analyzing his every movement.

"Sheila," he responded with a winning smile, "Not a common Utah name, I like it." He held her hand for a moment longer than necessary.

"Well," he continued, "I count myself lucky to have met you two today. Is there anything a regular can help you with? I'd tell you where the best Casino is, but I have a feeling that wouldn't do you much good." I smiled at the joke, but decided to let Sheila respond.

"We are fine, thank you. I think you'd better be to your hair appointment before it's too late." His eyes widened and he started to respond, but then just grinned and shook his head.

"You're right, maybe well run into each other again." He looked at his watch and left us.

"What 'Hair Appointment?'" I started, eager to hear again the process that I still could hardly understand let alone duplicate.

"The whole time he spoke to us, he was watching his wristwatch. His hair was also in disarray over the ears showing that he was unused to the length, suggesting a needed haircut as did the reminder written on the back of the receipt he held with his wallet. Really Jo, that one didn't even take any deducing." She shook her head and we swept out of the cafe.

And that was my last break of they day. We spent the next few hours taking the most obscure routes ever through the city to different parts. Unsure of what exactly was happening, I only knew that I followed Sheila in and out of several police offices. She carried into each one an entire portfolio of personal notes and news collections. The police seemed already familiar with her and would most often only permit her in to discuss the information. I spent a lot of time waiting on them and pacing back and forth. As much as I enjoyed the adventures, sometimes I grew impatient with my own lack of ability to be truly involved in them. I was a little consoled to see Sheila step out of many offices with a complete aura of irritation. There was a time or two that I had to do my best to mediate between her and the officers. Stupid people –the true bane of her existence.

Several phone calls were also made and the highlight of her day seemed to come from talking to a select few homeless people. Sheila loved talking to homeless people. If you could find one sane enough to talk to, they were a prime source of information and always saw things that others missed.

At six I was starving and exhausted and therefore immensely relieved when I suggested a dinner break and Sheila actually agreed to the idea. We stopped by a nice little place near the hotel with pasta and pizza. And I finally got to relax and eat. I wished though that we could have eaten somewhere more private where I could ask questions. As things were, I'd only been able to pick up bits and pieces of what was going on. I knew Moriarty was reportedly in Las Vegas, that he had still to be caught, and that he was working on some sort of escape plan that dealt with the city's power sources. I also had a vague idea that throughout the day we had periodically been followed. That is what concerned me most. Sheila hardly let on, but I knew she didn't dodge around corners and suddenly change routes for now reason. I was no coward, but I wasn't sure if my nerve could stand an unexpected confrontation.

Dinner, however was uneventful enough and I felt a little better with a full stomach. After that, we started to walk back towards the hotel. As we walked, someone down the road saw us and started coming towards us. I tried not to panic, especially seeing how calm Sheila was.

"Hey! I thought I might see you two around here again," a familiar voice from this morning called out. It was Sheila's admirer, Jimmy Forrest. She sighed moodily and might have walked passed him if I hadn't stopped.

"Two girls like you, especially from Utah, probably shouldn't be out alone in the part of town and in this time of night. Is it alright if I walk with you a ways?"

"I assure you, we are quite alright on our own," Sheila answered. I felt sorry for him, but I knew Sheila spoke the truth. The regular dangers of Las Vegas were the least of our concerns at the moment, especially considering Sheila's expert training in various martial arts and self defense techniques. And I carried a taser with me always.

"Thank you for the offer though," I added politely. He looked at the ground sheepishly.

"Yeah, I guessed so. I just wanted...well. Thing is, I was thinking about the name Sheila after this morning and I remembered reading an article about a Sheila Holmes in Utah. It was something clever...The Red Herring?"

"The Red Investigation?" I corrected excitedly. He grinned and nodded.

"That was it, a mystery solved by the genius of Sheila Holmes. That's you isn't it?" Sheila shrugged.

"You yourself pointed out that aren't many Sheila's in Utah."

"And you're the writer, right? Jolene Watson?"

"It's Mortenson now, but yes." He stood back in awe, especially looking at Sheila.

"Not to sound weird, but I admired your work and intelligence so much since then. If you need any help with whatever you're working on now, I'd love to get a chance to just, you know, see you work. Not that you need the help."

"We don't, and I don't babysit. However, you can stick around if you swear to do exactly what I say." I could tell she was only permitting him to stay so she could keep an eye on him. Leaving him as a loose end could be dangerous on many sides.

"After what I've heard, I'd have to be an idiot not to."

The answer was satisfactory and Sheila graced him with an approving nod. I resented that answer, being myself often independent of Sheila instruction.

We continued along towards the hotel at a casual pace which was a drastic change from the hurry of the morning. I wondered what our current aim was, but I didn't feel comfortable asking questions around the stranger. I felt rather disappointed in this because I had hoped that Sheila might at this time have begun to explain a little more of what was happening.

"Are we heading back to the Hotel?" I asked the obvious.

"Yes, there are a few things I need to think out. Besides, I can tell you've wanted a rest all day." I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. It seemed I would have even longer to wait in order to see how things played out.