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They all snickered at that.

Jake said, “Do you think he’s telling the full story?”

“What do you mean?”

Jake leaned in and spoke softly. “We’re supposed to split the prize money with the girls. Do you think he’s telling them that? We never got to submit the answer with the computer, so there’s no proof we made that deal with Bethany’s team.”

They thought about that as they watched Mr. Garvey talking to the other men.

“You think he’s trying to claim the entire prize?” Mal said. “You think he’s cutting the girls out?”

“I don’t think he’s arguing to give them more money.”

“What’s your teacher doing?” said a new voice, and Winston spun around to see Bethany standing there, arms crossed, glaring down at him. Giselle and Elvie stood behind her like backup singers.

“I don’t know. We were just talking about that.”

Bethany pointed sharply at Winston, as if Mr. Garvey was Winston’s misbehaving pet dog. “Dmitri Simon already interviewed my team. We told him exactly what happened—that we were going to split the money,” she said. “If he’s over there saying something different, they might decide we’re all lying. They might not award the prize to anybody!”

They continued to watch the men talking. Winston said, “I’m sure he wouldn’t do that.” He didn’t believe the words coming from his own mouth.

Nobody else did, either. Bethany snorted.

Jake snorted, too. “He would totally do that,” he said.

“But what can he tell them?” Winston asked. “What can he say to make them think we deserve the prize money all by ourselves?”

Bethany made an exasperated sound. “It’s easy. It’s totally easy. All he has to do is say your computer broke after it beeped and said another team won. Then you gave us a hint to solve the last puzzle because it was all over anyway.”

“Is that what happened?” Brendan asked.

“What?” Bethany said. “No! That’s what I’m saying!”

“Sorry. I just got here,” Brendan said.

“That’s the bunch of lies their teacher is telling Dmitri Simon right now,” Bethany said.

They all looked over to Mr. Garvey, who was still at it, giving his complicated version of events to Simon and his men. Now, as they watched, Mr. Garvey pointed back to the picnic table. Dmitri Simon turned to look at Winston and his friends. Simon said something else and then turned and began to walk toward them. Mr. Garvey tried to follow, but one of Simon’s men put a hand up and stopped him. What was that about?

Dmitri Simon reached their table. He was all smiles. “Hello again, girls,” he said to Bethany’s team. “I’d like to talk with these fellas for a few minutes.”

“What did that teacher say to you?” Bethany asked. “Because if he said anything about—”

Dmitri Simon raised a hand, and Bethany quieted down. “I just need to speak to these boys for a minute. Please.”

Bethany bit her lower lip as if to keep a lock on the many things she wanted to say. She finally muttered, “Sure. Okay.” She gave Winston one of her patented glares as she led Giselle and Elvie away.

Brendan stood up, too. “I guess I’ll go get another hot dog. Okay?”

“Sounds great, Brendan,” said Simon. “I’m sorry again for everything you’ve been through today. It’s not fair that your teacher did this. I mean, it’s not fair to you.”

“I still had fun,” Brendan said. “You know. Up until—”

“I know,” Simon said, patting Brendan on the shoulder. Brendan left to get his second helping.

Simon took a deep breath and sat down. The bench groaned with displeasure at the sudden extra weight. “What a day, huh?” Simon said to the three boys. He shook his head with something like amusement. “I figured once a team had gotten that sixth answer, there was no need to continue the game. I had the computers programmed to summon everybody back to the factory after somebody won. It didn’t occur to me that the winning team might self-destruct so spectacularly.” He looked more carefully at Jake’s bruised face. “I guess you’re the one who made direct contact with the cheater.”

“I made direct contact, all right,