Shadow of Power Read Free Page A

created a literary monster in the way they’d amended the Constitution. Unlike federal statutes where laws once repealed were removed from the codebooks and disappeared from view, provisions of the Constitution repealed by later amendments remained in the document. They may have been dead-letter law, but they were still there for everyone to read. And this wasn’t like the repeal of Prohibition, with alcoholics stumbling through the streets demanding the removal of language foisted on them by Carry Nation.
    Supported by sociological studies, statistics on prison population by race, disparities in income since the Civil War, and psychological data showing long-term damage rooted in race, Scarborough’s book punctuated it all with the words of slavery still visible in the Constitution.
    The book was peddled to a mass market that had never put all the pieces together before. Many of them now saw the old words of slavery staring at them from the nation’s most fundamental, organic law as a national insult. They were carrying placards in the streets bearing the preamble to the Constitution superimposed over the Confederate flag.
    Scarborough couldn’t believe that someone else hadn’t exposed it decades earlier, during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. It had been left there for him to pluck, like some ripe fruit.
    Still leaning against the frame of the bathroom door, Bonguard was getting nervous. He had never seen the letter. Now he wanted to see it.
    “Do you mind telling me where the letter is?”
    Scarborough turned and looked at him. “In a safe place.”
    “I just thought I’d ask. What I’m afraid of is you’re gonna go on Leno tonight and blow it.”
    “You don’t have to worry. I’m not going to tell them everything tonight,” said Scarborough. “I mean, if they came unglued over the words of slavery, I’d need to peel the contents of Jefferson’s letter for them like an onion so that they can get the true flavor before I add the special seasonings”—he stared at Bonguard as if there were some hidden meaning in his face—“drop it all in the pot, and cook it with a book.”
    Another brain teaser, thought Bonguard. “But why not save the details?”
    “Oh, I’ll have all the details in the book, all right.” He ran a comb through his hair and headed for the bedroom with Bonguard following.
    “This revelation. What exactly…?”
    “Wait and learn,” said Scarborough. “Feelings of racial discord in this country run deep. Roll out the letter with all the details, the real in-depth story, and if everything goes well, we may have a new American Revolution.”
    Scarborough pulled a shirt off a hanger in the closet, still talking as if to himself. “I wonder how many of them were involved. It had to be more than one,” he said.
    “One what?” Bonguard looked as if he’d stepped into the Twilight Zone.
    “Stay tuned,” said Scarborough. “Besides, if I did it on a hard-news show, they’d nail me. A million follow-up questions. Where did I find the letter? How long did I have it? Who does it belong to? Why hadn’t I revealed it earlier? How could I? I didn’t know all the facts. I was in the middle of an ongoing investigation. But why get into all that when I can do it on Leno? I was disarmed by humor, caught up in the comedy of the moment. I let my guard down. Next thing I know, there it is, history’s biggest national turd on America’s living-room floor. More news later.” Scarborough smiles at the thought.
    “Well, if you’re going to pop the letter tonight there are probably a few other things we should talk about first.”
    “Yes?” Scarborough looked at him.
    “Like what’s happening outside.” Bonguard reached over and pickedup a copy of the L.A. Times that was lying on the nightstand. There were stories of racial violence in three major cities, one of them Los Angeles, where police acting quickly had barely quelled a riot the night before, all based on the rising