Two years later, Ava's body is found & another little girl,  Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended that party..
...Mary felt rather like someone for whom a marriage was being arranged by people who doubted the suitability of the match but could think of no seemly way of retiring. Her family & friends behaved like outsiders privy to a secret & dubious courtship, treating her with an arch, considered & wholly unnatural care, whispering together & falling silent when they remembered her sitting by the window & possibly listening. Mary Marsh has lost her only child, but rather than allow her peace in which to grieve, her mother cajoles her into participating in a proper family Christmas. As the various guests arrive, Mary's sister Barbara, Barbara's children & husb&, Barbara's lover, Barbara's husband's lover ("the Thrush"), Vera & Dennis the neighbors, a grown cat & a kitten, the house descends into farcical chaos.