Ed took a moment to gather himself. With the slightest miscalculation, Roger could have frozen Karla and there would have been no telling the damage he could have done. But now Ed had the little bugger right where he wanted him. He put the frozen Roger on the floor and had Karla pin him with her body with clear instructions to keep him down at all costs. As an additional precaution, Ed stepped back to create distance between them. When he felt there was enough room to safely react, he unfroze the college kid.
"You little shit. This is exactly why I didn't trust you. Freezing random civilians. How did you think that was going to play out?" Ed asked. "Even if I didn't catch you, someone would have."
"Fuck you." Roger said.
"Which of these people are aware and which are unaware? You tell me that and I'll let you go."
"You think I'm stupid, man. Like hell you're going to let me go." Roger said.
"You can make this easier on yourself if you just tell me who's aware that they are frozen."
It made a huge difference to know who was aware and who was unaware. Unaware people were not a problem. They could just be returned to their original position and unfrozen. They would have no memory of being frozen and being used by Roger. The aware ones were the problem. Once unfrozen, they would remember everything done to them and they would remember seeing Roger, Ed, and Karla. That would make them the three prime suspects right off the bat. Surely Roger couldn't be that stupid. However, his choice of venue already revealed how little he had thought things through.
"You've got one last chance."
"Or you'll what?"
Ed froze Roger again. He had Karla stand against the wall and then froze her too. It wasn't ideal, but if Roger wasn't going to voluntarily give up information, then Ed was going to command it out of him. Ed took the mind-controlling Kollar watch off of Karla and put it on Roger. Once Roger was set up in the App, Ed could safely unfreeze him. It was weird seeing a blank man responding the same way he had already seen his wife, his daughter and the twins respond. The only change Ed made was that Roger had to answer all questions with the truth.
"Roger, since you've had the camera, who did you freeze that is aware?"
Ed remained on edge. Despite having control of Roger, the kid could be faking it and pounce at any moment. But he stood still, and his blank monotone voice filled the room.
"The daughter of your boss, Cali, the store owner, my mother, and my sister."
"Everyone else is unaware?"
"Yes."
Ed froze Roger again immediately, fearing he was faking it. For good measure, Ed slapped Roger and was finally at ease when there was no reaction or retaliation. With all the damage done so far, he couldn't afford any more mistakes. Ed took the watch off Roger and put it back on Karla to make her help. Until Ed had more devices, he couldn't leave any witnesses. Unfortunately, that meant taking his boss, Olivia, and her daughter, Megan, with him. He could just take Megan but, having her mother on the loose looking for her was going to cause way more problems. At least with both of them, he could buy some time. There was also Roger's sister and mother which he had to admit, made damn fine trophies. Until he probed all their memories, it was best to play it on the safe side.
For a short time, Ed was going to realize his dream of owning a collection of trophies until he found new devices or had time to erase the memories of Roger's freezing joyride. With his plan set, there was only one person left to deal with. The frozen store owner, Cali, was in the same place that Roger had left her. Ed had seen her many times before with his brother Michael's fiancé, Samantha and from his understanding, they were close friends.
Without hesitation, Ed unfroze her. Cali gathered her senses and then charged for the camera, but Ed froze her in place again.
"Look. I'm Michael's brother. Samantha's Michael. My daughter's stupid boyfriend stole this from my office after I agreed to help Michael test it. I didn't mean for this to happen, but that idiot is frozen now. All I want to do is chat."
Ed waited a moment and unfroze Cali again. She didn't attack this time.
"You're Mike's brother." Cali said.
"Yes. My name is Ed."
"Well Ed, there are multiple people frozen in here. I don't think you realize how serious this is."
"All of them are unaware except for one."
"Unaware?"
"Yes, there is a prototype unaware camera. That's what I was testing. So as long as we put them back in certain places before we unfreeze them, everything will be fine." Ed said.
"And what about the one who is aware?"
"Well, we can hope that little punk did nothing to her." Ed paused to ponder how much detail he should give away. Maybe less was better. "Or I can take her back home and use another device that Michael has to erase anything."
"Hold up. You're going to erase her memory?"
Or maybe the truth was the best way to go to provide clarity.
"When I said 'hope nothing happened', I already know something did. You can go ahead and unfreeze her, but there's going to be a sexual lawsuit against the guy and this store coming right after."
Cali took a moment to think. The way Ed painted the picture, he hoped she saw it as a problem not worth having.
"And you're sure only that one person was aware?"
"Besides you. Yes."
Cali looked in the first two changing rooms and saw the various women frozen. It was enough of a mess to deal with on its own, but Ed was hoping that the women having no recollection would relieve Cali enough to not worry about the one aware girl.
"If any of those women says anything, I will report it to the police immediately. Do you understand?" Cali said.
Ed nodded.
