On my way home, I took a detour and drove to Tyson’s Bay. I parked my jeep on the side of the road and made my way through the brush to the black, volcanic sand beach.
If there was a crime scene here when Filthy Man was found hanging from the manchineel tree, it was no longer evident. No yellow police tape; no wooden barriers, nothing. I looked at the tree and saw the heavy limb where I’m sure he tied the rope. There were manchineel apples on the ground near my feet and on the tree. I kicked at one. I had heard all the stories about how toxic the manchineel apple is. Legend has it an arrow tipped with the sap of the apple killed Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon; that the sap, I had been told, if touched, can burn the flesh and cause blisters. I put my palm on the sturdy trunk of the tree,
