Michael Malone - Weebly

Dingley Falls had not been so communally aquiver
in ages, as now over the gunfight murders. The fact that
the town had almost burned down quickly dulled in
comparison. Indeed, since no one had been killed by
the fire, visiting newsmen ignored it completely, except
as a background to death when television reporters
stood on the charred grass in front of the skeleton of the
Haigs' home and talked of the tragic site of the Gunfight
Murders.
Of course, it happened to be the case that the forest
fire was covering up a much bigger story than the one
that had taken place in John "Hawk" Haig's red brick
ranch house. But Dingleyans blamed the blaze on a bolt
of lightning; that is, on God or chance, depending on
their point of view. No one absorbed in the fascinating
horror of local killings had the foggiest notion that the
federal government was slipping away undetected after
having, over seven years' time, coolly murdered (simply
in order to learn how to do it better) at least fifty human
members of the surrounding community, and who
knows how many other mammals, before God or
chance, butting in, murdered the murderers.