The Project X series-2. Xx is for...?

What i saw

"I can only tell you what I saw," said the man to the police officer.

"So sir, let me just check, You watched two females, with their faces concealed, one stood at the side of said bicycle, whilst the other female wearing the white trainers, broke the lock-securing the bicycle with her bare hands and then took the bicycle. Is that correct?" asked the police officer.

"Again officer, it's what I witnessed" The man was losing his patience.

"You see sir we must be certain with the facts! That lock is a D-lock, In its cheapest version it's made of metal and most expensive form it is made from a hardened steel shackle to resist cutting and leverage!" Explained the police officer.

"Thank you for the education in D-locks officer"

"No need to be like that sir, but you see your explanation of the female pulling the lock apart is not feasible without power tools, and the steel shaft of the lock is bent, so....are you sure you didn't see the lady using any tools?"  The police officer thought the witness probably missed something as they always did, caught up in the moment, explaining only some of the facts and a lot of fiction.

"For the last time officer, she pulled it apart with her hands, there was a short struggle then the lock fell off and off they went. Could the lock be faulty?"

"That's something we will look into, thank you...sir" There was still a lot of doubt with the officer and what the witness was explaining to him.

The officer placed the evidence bag in his boot. He laughed to himself. There was no way anyone could have bent that metal shaft with their hands!

A few days passed and there were more crimes to investigate. The officer couldn't move further with his cycle theft. The D-lock had no evidence on it and the only thing the lab said was, that there were small finger indentations on the steel, so the lab's guess was, that a female or child used heat to cut through the steel then protective gloves to pull the lock apart. The strange thing was there was no evidence of heat being used to weaken the steel, no cut marks. Strange indeed. The lock was sent off to the manufacturer for tests.

The town wasn't the largest nor the smallest but like a lot of mid-sized towns had its fair share of crime. So the officer had to move on this went on the back burner.

"Hey" shouted one of his colleagues...

"You cover Brompton Street don't you?"

"Unfortunately, why?"

He walked over to his colleague.

"Watch this"

His colleague played some CCTV, there was a car parked in a no-parking zone, and then the next frame showed the car facing the other way.

"What am I watching here?" asked the officer confused.

"It gets interesting when I slow the frame. This camera is faulty and jumps frames, but if you know that and slow it down you see this!"

His colleague slowed the footage.

"There you go! Now keep your eye on the white trainer, You see the hand come down and grab the underside of the car?"

"Ok...look I'm busy"

"Okay wait a minute, you see her trainer watch...there you go, her hand grabs the underside of the car, next frame shows the tyre off the ground...then her trainer has moved to the other side, and you see the wheel drop and the car bounce."

"She turned the car around"

The officer asked..."Why do you keep saying she?"

"Look at the size of her hands & feet. My software analyses stuff like that, they are women-sized proportions!"

The officer knew those markings on the suspect's trainers but he couldn't quite remember where he had seen them....so many cases.

"So you're telling me she's lifted the car and turned it around?"

"Not me the footage! Unfortunately, it's on auto pan some frames are missing, so because of the frame jump you can't see if anyone else is there or not."

"Looks like you are dealing with the hulks Mrs" he laughed at the quirk and connection.

"Seriously though, I reckon it's someone pleading with a repo driver not to take their car. I just thought I'd let you know in case the fake repo guys are back again"

"Can I have a copy of this...it might be linked to something else I'm looking into"

"Sure, I'll leave it in your inbox"

It clicked. The design of the trainers was the same as those the D-lock suspect was wearing. This was now the second incident where a show of strength was involved, but it was more likely she was indeed trying to prevent the repo guy from taking her car and that the lock was faulty. That makes much more sense.

The cases on the officer's desk just kept growing faster than he could clear them. Weeks were flying by.

The mail person came round. There was a crash on his desk which made him jump. It was a Jiffy bag. He looked at the postmark & could see it was from the cycle lock company. As soon as he opened it and they confirmed it was faulty there were no other lines of enquiry and he could clear this case. He opened the jiffy bag and pulled out the letter.

Blah blah blah...tests show no fault with the lock and the lock has been forced open. Tests show the lock was pushed beyond its operational limits and therefore gave way to the force pulling against it. We theorise that some sort of hydraulic device was used to pull the lock apart, as the locking pins inside the barrel are bent. We cannot advise why there is a female hand indentation on the perhaps from the time of manufacture. Yours blah blah blah

I knew she used a tool to pull it apart. Case closed...I'll never find a stolen bike in this dump. He disliked the town, or maybe it was dead because he knew what went on.

Just as he turned to his computer an email came in. It was from the guy who had his bicycle stolen and the D-lock broken by a woman!

The timing, maybe he should buy a lotto ticket.

The email read, Great news officer my bike has been returned with a replacement lock. There was a note attached to my bike and it reads apologies it was an emergency, Don't worry I took good care of the bike, I also got your bike serviced and replaced the lock. F & M x x x 

....looks like you can close this one, From now on my car unlocked-hopefully they'll take that and get it serviced and valeted for me! Yours blah blah blah

Good news and bad news thought the officer. I need to see if any neighbours have camera doorbells and now someone has admitted to the theft...whoever F & M are?

Xx