“Have you known him long?” Cassie asked.

“Since he came to Bellamo. I guess it’s been about two years now.”

“I thought he had been here longer.”

“No. He arrived about the same time Janessa did,” Pierre said. “I got the impression the royal family wanted to increase security because they knew Prince Garrett was preparing to marry.”

“I suppose that changing dynamic would create a new set of challenges.”

“More than we ever could have imagined,” Pierre said, a tinge of regret and sorrow hanging in his voice.

The door to the storage room vibrated when someone knocked on it from the outside.

“Who is it?” Pierre asked.

“It’s me. Levi.”

Cassie rose to her feet.

Pierre moved to the keypad by the door. He hit a button, and a screen on the wall lit up, revealing a view of the hall where Levi stood alone.

Pierre pressed his access card to the reader and punched in his code. The lock on the door clicked, and he pulled the door open.

Levi entered, his eyes landing on Cassie. “Are you two okay?”

She managed a nod, even though her insides were churning with emotions that demanded release.

“Where was the faulty sensor?” Pierre asked without preamble.

“On the Renoir—”

“In the main hall,” Pierre finished for him.

“Yes. How did you know that?”

“This might have been a false alarm, but it was done deliberately.” Pierre motioned Levi forward and closed them inside. Even though they were alone, Pierre lowered his voice. “I personally checked those alarms, and we included a backup system. If one sensor failed, another would have kicked in and sent a maintenance alarm to the security office.”

“But that didn’t happen,” Levi said.

“No. Multiple sensors would have had to fail for the alarm to trigger, and they were all brand-new.”

“Could you have gotten a bad batch of sensors?” Levi asked.

“We checked them multiple times,” Pierre said. “The only way for this to have happened was for someone to force a power surge into the security grid.”

“Could that have been done remotely?”

“No.” Pierre shook his head. “It’s a closed system.”

“I suggest we have Captain Reyes run a check on all of your staff.”

“Yes, and we need to check for tampering. Someone could have set some kind of timer to throw the alarm.”

“True, but for what purpose?” Levi asked.

“I have absolutely no idea.”

Levi glanced at his watch. “I hate to do this, but I need to get Cassie back to the chateau. Do you want me to go with you to meet with the captain before I leave?”

“No, I’ll be fine.” Pierre opened the door again and motioned to the crated painting. “Take this with you though. I’d prefer to lighten my inventory until we get everything sorted out.”

“No problem.”

“Go ahead and pull your car around back. I’ll bring it out to you.”

“Okay. We’ll be right back.” Levi took Cassie’s hand and led her toward the front of the museum. “I am so sorry about this.”