Free Play With Fire by Dana Stabenow

hired."
    "Looks like," Kate agreed, relieved, and watched as he leaned his bike against the cabin wall and went inside.
    Back at camp Dinah said meditatively, "He's kind of like the Blues Brothers, isn't he."
    Bobby and Kate both swiveled to look at her, identical expressions of incredulity on their faces. "He's on a mission from God," the blonde explained.
    "I don't know about that," Kate said. "I do know he's scared to death about something."
    "He's a sanctimonious little shit," Bobby said shortly.
    "He's a client," Kate said.
    "So? Doesn't make him any less sanctimonious." And with that Bobby crawled into his tent. Dinah looked at Kate, gave an uncomprehending shrug, and crawled after him.
    "Like we thought. No shirt, no pants, no shoes, nothing," Chopper Jim said. "Guy didn't have a stitch on him."
    "What was he doing out in a forest fire with no clothes on?" Kate said.
    Dinah smacked a mosquito. "What was he doing out without any clothes on, period? These damn bugs would have eaten him alive."
    Chopper Jim rewarded her with a wide smile. She wilted visibly, which was what Kate was pretty sure he'd flown up for this Sunday morning and buzzed the camp, setting the chopper down in a burned-out clearing a quarter of a mile away, instead of letting her phone in for the information on Monday. Bobby, predictably, bristled. Kate said, "Cause of death?" confidently expecting a reply of, "Smoke inhalation."
    She didn't get it. Chopper Jim allowed the smile to linger on Dinah just long enough before turning it on Kate. A sensible woman, she distrusted it on sight, and her distrust was fully justified by his next two words.
    "Anaphylactic shock."
    "What?" "What?" Bobby said, startled.
    "What's anaphylactic shock?" Dinah said, and turned immediately to search in vain for The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia. Thwarted, she reached for her camera.
    Chopper Jim made a pretense of scanning his notebook but Kate knew that steel-trap mind had it all memorized, indexed and filed, on tap for instant recall. "Anaphylaxis is a physical reaction certain people have to certain substances, among them certain drugs, maybe penicillin, insulin, even aspirin, or certain foods, maybe shellfish, maybe strawberries, or certain insect bites. Bee stings, mostly."
    "Bee stings?"
    "Mostly. Upon exposure, the onset of anaphylaxis is sudden and severe, beginning with a constriction of the airways and the blood vessels.
    Other symptoms parallel allergic reactions, itching eyes, plugged-up nose, hives, swollen lips and tongue, impaired breathing, increased pulse rate.
    Untreated, it gets worse, including nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, loss of consciousness, cardio respiratory failure, and death.
    All within minutes of exposure." He closed his notebook. "Treatment must be immediate. Recommended therapy is an injection of epinephrine or adrenaline."
    "So this guy didn't get caught in the fire?" Kate said, readjusting her ideas.
    "I didn't say that," Chopper Jim said.
    Her look was pointed and said, Don't be coy, and there was that grin again. She hated that grin.
    "Could be the fire caught up with him."
    "After he died," she guessed, and he nodded. "So. Anaphylaxis."
    There was another, briefer silence, broken only when Dinah put down her camera and made a beeline for the bottle of Skin-So-Soft she'd bought off the back of the Subaru. She started at her ankles and worked her way up. Chopper Jim watched her. Bobby watched Chopper Jim. "So this guy,"
    Kate said, "this guy strips down to his birthday suit, goes jogging, gets bitten on the ass by a bee and falls down dead in front of a forest fire. That pretty much cover things so far?"
    Chopper Jim gave a judicious nod.
    "And nobody notices."
    Chopper Jim shook his head.
    Kate thought it over and came to a well-reasoned conclusion.
    "Bullshit."
    "Couldn't have put it better myself," Jim said.
    "Metzger did notice something a little strange."
    Kate looked at him.
    "Okay, stranger. Body had some deep cuts on his