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He saw a couple of other teams staring at the prison from a distance, or studying something they had written down.

They drew closer to the pretend prison, and now Winston saw another element of the puzzle: In front of each cell was a sign, supposedly showing what each prisoner had done to earn this humiliation.

A photographer stood to their right, taking pictures of this crazy scene. A label on his shoulder bag identified him as working for the local newspaper. The photographer called out, “Hey, Tommy!”

The man in the Lewd Behavior cell looked around, wondering who had called his name. He spotted the photographer, who sang out, “I knew they’d catch you one day!” He cackled, and Tommy, in the cell, nodded wearily, like he’d heard this joke several times already.

Jake said, “So what is this?”

Winston said, “I have no idea.”

“Stole friend’s chickens?” Mal said. “What kind of crime is that?”

“Dmitri Simon chose these crimes for a reason,” Winston said, trying to think of some ideas. Or even one idea. Right now he had nothing.

They all thought about it for a few moments. “Do they really put you in jail if you disobey a traffic signal?” Jake asked.

“My sister would be in jail a dozen times by now,” Mal replied. “She thinks stop signs are suggestions.”

Mr. Garvey had caught up, panting a bit. He looked around, his face a mix of wonder and bafflement. “This is a puzzle?” he said.

“Seems to be,” Mal said.

The math teacher took another gasp of air. “I guess Dmitri Simon isn’t interested in sudoku. So what is this?”

“We don’t know yet. We were just looking at those signs.”

Mr. Garvey nodded. “Attempted robbery,” he said. “Counterfeiting. . . . Yes, these certainly look important. How many letters are on each sign?”

That was a pretty good thought, so they counted. There were twenty letters in the first sign . . . and also in the second sign. The third sign had fourteen letters. Winston thought maybe they could apply the familiar 1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C alphabet code, but that gave them a word beginning with TTN. Not very promising.

The prisoners continued to pace. They all looked sorry they’d gotten involved with this event. Perhaps they hadn’t considered just how long they would be in these closed-in little cells with nothing to do but walk back and forth. At least real prisoners get a cot to lie down on. These guys didn’t even have that.

The signs, the signs, the signs. That had to be the important part of the puzzle. Did those crimes have something in common? Winston couldn’t see that they did.

There was a shout from his right. Winston looked and saw the team from Lincoln Junior High. Rod Denham, sweating profusely, held a piece of paper, and his three students stood close around him, studying it. Intensity radiated off them like sunlight. They had just come up with an idea. As Winston watched, one of the kids nodded excitedly to another, who took the small computer out of his backpack and turned it on. Winston could hear the teedly-teedly-tee start-up sound. The teammate began pushing buttons and, after a moment, gave a huge fist-pump in the air. The team traded high fives, and the kids from Team Lincoln ran off to the next puzzle. Rod Denham followed behind them a bit more slowly.

Mr. Denham glanced over at Mr. Garvey. That smug smile was back on his face. “You were ahead of us for a moment there, Garvey,” he said as he passed. “Good for you!” He chuckled as he walked away.

Mr. Garvey turned scarlet. He couldn’t find any way to respond—he just stood there looking furious. His competition with Mr. Denham was like a virus in his bloodstream.

Jake said, “He just says those things to throw you off your game.”

Mal added, “It’s psychology! He’s messing with your brain.” He twittered some fingers through his hair as if giving his own brains a stir.

Mr. Garvey whirled on them. “I know that. Obviously I know that.” He took a deep breath as his kids watched him. He pointed at the prisoners and barked, “Would the three of you focus more on the puzzle and less on me, please? I want to hear some