
He was sure that he could hear and smell the creature, although Jennifer never noticed anything of that nature.įiona arrives at the police headquarters to be questioned by Kennedy. A computer tech tells Kennedy that he has found evidence on the Spains’ computer that Patrick was visiting a site called Wildwatcher in an attempt to figure out if he had a wild animal living in his house. However, Kennedy feels that something is off about the confession. Conor admits to breaking into the Spains’ home to steal things and confesses to the murders as well. He claims that he was drawn to the Spains because they seemed so happy, and he observed them in an attempt to soothe his own loneliness.

They learn the man’s name is Conor Brennan, and he is about the same age as Jennifer. The next day, Kennedy joins Richie on the stakeout they spot someone whom Kennedy believes to be the stalker, and they bring him back to headquarters for interrogation. He spends the night talking to her and attempting to figure out what is wrong. She is clearly distraught, so Kennedy tells Curran to proceed without him while he takes Dina back to his apartment. However, Kennedy’s sister Dina shows up unannounced at the police headquarters in Dublin Castle. Kennedy and Curran plan to watch the observation nest for anyone coming or going in hopes of identifying the family’s stalker. In a neighboring house, detectives find a hideout complete with binoculars and a sleeping bag, indicating that someone had indeed been spying on the Spain family. Kennedy’s initial hunch is that the entire thing was a murder-suicide organized by Patrick, but then he starts to consider the fact that there might have been a stalker observing the family’s every move. In the attic, the detectives find financial documents revealing that the Spains’ fortune had declined significantly since Patrick had been laid off from his job six months prior. Jennifer had noticed small things around the house were going missing and suspected that someone was breaking in. Jennifer’s sister, Fiona, tells Kennedy that the Spains were a happy family.

Kennedy and Curran head to Brianstown to begin their investigation Kennedy sends a team of detectives to search the home for the murder weapon while he interviews the neighbors. Their family lived in Brianstown, formerly known as Broken Harbour, and was attacked in the middle of the night, with only Jennifer surviving the incident. Their first assignment together is known as the Spain case, which involves Jennifer and Patrick Spain, a married couple and their two young children.

The novel opens as Detective Mick ‘Scorcher’ Kennedy has just been assigned a new partner, Richie Curran. Irish novelist Tana French’s crime novel Broken Harbour (2012) is the fourth installment in the Dublin Murder Squad series.
