"Men come and go, but diamonds—"

"Diamonds don't keep you warm at night."

Treasure

Chapter 1

Alex stared blankly at the print on the hospital room wall. It was a simple daisy, done by some fourth grader in an elementary school fund raising contest years ago. It was just a colorful outline, not even scribbled in, but it had an elegance about it.

She'd already studied the flower. Now she stared blankly at it, her mind replaying the words they'd exchanged all those years ago after solving their first case together. Now the words haunted her. Tears failed her and she rolled to one side, trying to quell the horrible ache in her heart. She saw the box lying on the tray table. She imagined his fingers wrapped easily around it as he stuffed it in his pocket.

"Diamonds don't keep you warm at night."

"She doesn't remember anything," Logan said. "It's pointless to put her through that again, you're only going to upset her." Logan's jaw was set, but he kept his voice calm. He'd learned a thing or two in his years with Major Case.

Detective Mark Perry turned to Captain Ross to mediate the dispute. Ross looked from one detective to the other. He took a deep breath. "All right, look. We're all too close to this. We need to step back, think of it like any other case."

"But it's not any other case, it's Eames!" Mike protested.

Ross raised his voice. "And Detective Logan is right. The doctors said her memories could return. We need to give her time, not badger her. She'll let us know when she remembers something." His jaw twitched and he looked back at Perry. "Any word on Goren yet?"

"Nothing. Whoever killed him must've dumped his body." Again, Perry's words raised Logan's fur. The taller Detective stomped over to stare out the Captain's window, again, holding his tongue.

Ross's glassy eyes turned to the younger man. "Until a body turns up, all options are open. Understood?"

Perry swallowed. "Yes sir. I meant no disrespect."

"Go get busy, Perry."

"Yes sir." Perry turned on his heel and left the room.

Ross walked over and gently closed his door. He looked at Logan's back until the man slowly turned to face him. "He's not dead, Captain."

"Logan, I know you want to believe that…"

"How can he be here one minute and gone the next?!"

"Logan, it happens every day. You've seen it thousands of times."

"But not Goren. Not to Bobby, it doesn't." Mike frowned when his eyes set on Perry through the office window. "And I'm sorry sir, but if that little prick keeps talking like that, I swear to God he's gonna find himself missing a few teeth."

"That's not going to help us find Bobby, Logan. You remember that."

Their eyes met one more time and Logan strode out of the room.

"Hi, Detective," he said, giving her a smile that couldn't possibly have been real.

Seeing him brought the tears back. She frowned and sputtered as they spilled down her cheeks.

Lewis lifted her carefully up and held her until her sobbing stopped. He didn't let his own tears fall. Finally, he eased her back onto her hospital bed. "I wish I could remember," she began, but he quieted her.

"There's nothing you could have done."

"We don't know that," she said.

"I know."

Her eyes searched his face. "How could you know?"

"I know you, Alex. And I know Bobby. And I know you both did everything you could. It just…" He swallowed hard. "It wasn't enough… this time."

The tears tried to come again, but she forced them back. She turned and saw the box on the table again.

"Have you looked at it yet?" he asked her quietly. Alex shook her head. "You should wear it, Alex. It was for you. He would want you to wear it."

"Diamonds don't keep you warm at night," she whispered.

Lewis ignored her and retrieved the box from the table. He opened the lid and held it where she could see.

Alex's face screwed up with pain again, but she forced herself to look at it. It was the most beautiful ring she'd ever seen. The delicate gold tapered as it neared the setting, and seemed to tie itself into a lover's knot, which firmly held the bright diamond.

"He would want you to wear it," Lewis said again.

Alex couldn't remove it from its place in the box yet. She touched it gently with the tips of her fingers and wondered about the conversations that must have taken place as he had it designed for her. It was all she had left, now. His final gesture of love for her. Gently, she plucked it free. She turned it over in her hand and finally slid it onto the third finger of her left hand.

It was beautiful, but it was a cold and lifeless circle around her skin. She looked up to see Lewis smiling sadly. "It was meant for you," Lewis said. "He would have wanted you to wear it."

She closed her eyes, leaving the cold ring on her finger. She concentrated on the dull throbbing of her head instead.