Mrs. Patty Ponder, an elderly neighbor of Pirriwee Public School, hears angry shouting from the school during a rainy evening. Speaking to her cat, Marie Antoinette, she first treats the disturbance as strange but possibly ordinary school-event noise, then becomes uneasy because the rage reminds her of her angry mother.

Mrs. Ponder goes to her sewing room window, which overlooks the school yard. She reflects on living beside the primary school, enjoying the children’s voices, and fondly observing the intense, hurried parents who usually pass her house during school runs.

Across the playground, the school’s event room is hosting an “Audrey and Elvis” trivia night to raise money for SMART Boards. Mrs. Ponder had declined the invitation because she dislikes child-free school events and costume parties, but from her window she can see parents dressed as Audrey Hepburn and Elvis Presley spilling out into the lit entrance area.

The scene turns violent: one man dressed as Elvis punches another, others restrain him, and a woman dressed as Audrey covers her face. As Mrs. Ponder wonders whether to call the police, she hears a siren approaching and then a woman on the balcony begins screaming.

The chapter shifts to a series of later comments from parents, school staff, and investigators. Their conflicting explanations blame hurt feelings, grudges, helicopter parenting, the Erotic Book Club, kindergarten orientation, “Mummy Wars,” a French nanny, and head lice, while Detective-Sergeant Adrian Quinlan states plainly that the incident is now a murder investigation.