When I got to work on Monday there were already a couple of cons waiting at the door. I told them to give me a minute and let myself into the library. Walter Two-Toes was sitting at the computer, the glow from the screen the only light in the room.

"How did you get in here?" I asked him.

"I'm a trustee, remember? Twenty-seven reads so far, that ain't bad."

"Look, I got guys waiting. Ain't you supposed to be at work?"

Walter shrugged, "they can wait." He meant his bosses, the assistant warden and prison psychologist, not the guys at the door. "We gotta finish the story. We owe it to our readers."

I managed to get him out the door with the promise that I would finish the story as soon as I had the new prompt. So here it is, exactly how WTT told it:

To say that the warden was annoyed by the antics of the Wiz, was the understatement of the year. He ordered Gerritty to make it a top priority to shut it down. Now this was before Gerrity's big promotion but he was still the warden's go-to guy.

Gerrity was smart. He didn't just barge in and shakedown the whole house. He watched and waited. The first thing he noticed was that the Wiz followed a pattern. He liked to perform it for new COs. So Gerrity reassigned a few guards. Then he waited to see what would happen.

The roach trick needed two extra guys. I was on the same floor as the Wiz but catty-corner across from him. I was the lookout. Stan's job was to vanish the roach. He was one floor up from the Wiz and directly above him. He would drop a string, with the joint attached, out his window. The Wiz would retrieve it. When I sounded the alarm, the Wiz would take a last puff and tug on the string. Stan would pull it up, out of sight. It would literally be gone in a puff of smoke.

Gerrity figured this out. He set a trap. He made a big fuss about giving some dignitaries a tour of the cellblock and the Wiz took the bait.

When the entourage got close, I gave the signal, the Wiz took a big puff and tugged on the string. It was jerked out of his fingers and flew towards the window. Gerrity and team stopped in front of the cell and the Wiz exhaled a beautiful plume of smoke. Gerrity smiled and introduced the visitors, then pointed to the window. "Mind if I have a toke?" he said. The roach hung just inside the window, a lazy curl of smoke rising from its lit end.

Gerrity had put a man on the roof with a long pole. He simply reached over and snagged the string before it could be pulled all the way out.

That ended the Disappearing Roach Trick but it didn't slow the Wiz down one bit. He used his week in the hole planning his next bamboozle. It was a doozy.