May as well throw this in.

I’m brainstorming for a horror story, called Sanewashing. A terribly sloppy serial killer is murdering people all around a town, but keeps getting away with it because no one is assigning urgency or panic to his rampage - instead preferring everyone keep calm.

At one point, the protagonist learns his best friend has been slain; and panics. But then he learns that it happened in a car crash, not a murder, and he sighs in relief.