The provided text is comprised of excerpts from Robert B. Parker's novel, The Widening Gyre, featuring the detective Spenser. The narrative details Spenser's work as a security consultant for senatorial candidate Meade Alexander, a conservative Christian politician whose campaign is threatened by a blackmail scheme involving a videotape of his wife, Ronni, engaging in illicit sexual activity while intoxicated. Spenser's investigation leads him to connect the blackmail attempt to organized crime figure Joe Broz's son, Gerry, who is running a side business involving cocaine dealing and filming sexual encounters with various Washington socialites and college students, often trading drugs for sex.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.