Generally, remembering is hard for him. The others agree. It is as if their memories are somehow smudged, or as if much of what was once stored has been corroded. When Ziegler is shown photographs of the boys, he recognises most of them but can’t for the life of him work out where or when he has met them. He remembers their nicknames even when their proper names are lost. Apparently, one of them was called Cape (for Cape of Good Hope); there was a Miseryguts, and an Escape-artist whose real name was Pawel Zavlacky. He instructed Adrian, with all the precision of an experienced locksmith, about the locks in their section that could be hooked or picked, what kind of tools there were and how they functioned. Easy locks, like those in the doors between the day room and the corridor, or the dormitory doors, could be picked with any kind of object that was pointy enough, like a filed-down nail or a knitting needle. Or a piece of a tin lid. Tin lids could be hammered into a point as sharp as an awl.
