Rabbits(100)

“Baron left us a clue to find Murmur, not Oprah or Bono. Don’t be a smart-ass. Didn’t Hazel pick you up in a van earlier?”

I was pretty sure that guy wasn’t actually Hazel, but Chloe had a point. We had called a number that allegedly belonged to Hazel, and somebody (perhaps it actually was Hazel himself) showed up in a van and saved me from getting squashed by three cars simultaneously.

“Fine. Let’s say this does lead us to Murmur, which is incredibly unlikely.”

“Agree to disagree.”

“What about the rumors?”

“I think the rumors are probably overstating things.”

“When you say things, you’re talking about pesky little things like ruthless and dangerous behavior, betrayal, and most likely murder?”

“That stuff has to be exaggerated,” Chloe said.

“Does it though?” I asked.

“Those three names mean something, and we’re looking into it.” She loaded a popular Rabbits chatroom in a Tor Browser and angled her screen away from me.

I sat there for a moment while Chloe typed away, her fingers hitting the keys a little bit harder than normal.

I shook my head. “Fine,” I said.

I could see Chloe smile a little from behind her screen.

“We’ll look into it in the morning, but right now the two of us are going to get some sleep.”





30


    ZOMPOCALYPSO AND THE BEAR


The next morning, we ate croissants and eggs while we scoured all of the Rabbits darknet websites we could find for any information on past or present players tied to a Seattle-based Rabbits-related group called the Navidsonians. We cross-referenced every mention and rumor until we had ten names we’d seen listed at least four times in four completely separate and seemingly unconnected instances. Then, we stuck those ten names up on the wall of my dining room using color-coded Post-it notes and began compiling all the information we could find.

Five hours later, after looking into every mention we could dig up and eliminating as many questionable pseudonyms as possible, we had our list of potential members down to four names:

1. Karl Yasserman

2. Darla Chung

3. Carla Yu

4. Trenton Hall



Could one of those four people be the infamous Rabbits player known as Murmur?

All four of the names had been mentioned in connection with the Navidsonians at some point or another, although we couldn’t find anything that connected any of them to Murmur.

We decided to focus on Trenton Hall from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Darla Chung from Tacoma, Washington. Both Chung and Hall were rumored to have taken part in more than one iteration of the game, so there was a bit more speculation online surrounding their participation in Rabbits and potential membership in the Navidsonian group.

We were unable to find any current geographic information on Trenton Hall, but Darla Chung had a Facebook page that included a number of photographs. Darla was slight, about five feet tall with a bright photogenic smile. She was definitely not what I had in mind when I pictured the infamous—potentially murderous—Rabbits player known as Murmur.



* * *



—

As with Hazel—the most famous Rabbits player of all time—nobody really knew all that much about Murmur. There were certain “higher-level” players we’d heard rumors about like Californiac (allegedly billionaire Alan Scarpio), Vampire Billy (might be a well-known actor from a long-canceled television series), and Sadie Palomino (rumored to be Silicon Valley venture capital legend Vera Spiotta). But Murmur, like Hazel—by design or otherwise—had always been surrounded by an air of mystery and danger.

Everyone seriously interested in the game had heard stories about Murmur. That they had purchased four hundred tickets to a concert rumored to contain a clue, just to make sure nobody else could attend, or that they had turned a close friend in to the police in order to gain an advantage during the ninth iteration.

But the most common (and alarming) rumor by far was that Murmur once threw another player off a nine-story roof to prevent them from finding a clue connected to Rabbits. That player was also, allegedly, Murmur’s spouse.

I was pretty sure Darla Chung wasn’t Murmur. Judging by the photos on her Facebook page, there was no way Darla was capable of throwing anybody off a roof.



* * *



—

A number of Darla’s photos included a close friend named Alison, a real estate agent who’d recently sold a condo that had been featured on Zillow.

Alison’s professional website featured photographs of her sales. Those photos included that condo: a nicely renovated two-bedroom located about fifteen minutes from my place. Alison was smiling in the picture, her arm around the buyer.

The buyer was Darla Chung.

According to everything we’d been able to dig up, the Navidsonians met on Thursdays and Sundays.

It was Wednesday. Chloe and I decided that the two of us would head over to Darla Chung’s condo first thing in the morning.

We were going on a stakeout.



* * *



—

Early the next morning, we parked outside Darla’s building, drank coffee, and rewatched all three episodes of the first season of Sherlock on my laptop as we waited.