“Esther liked him,” Rebecca said.

“He was a hero,” Ruth said. “He risked his life to save dozens of women.”

“So that’s the evidence on Jacobs?” George asked.

“I have concluded that A.S. is probably either Anna Silverman or Alice Solomon, as both women worked on the ninth floor for Jacobs in that same time period, and both survived the fire.”

“They must both be dead by now,” Rebecca said.

“Oh, yes, both of them died years ago, and neither of them had family I can trace—so far, anyway,” Ruth said. “But there is also this. There was a third report, someone who worked in the office as a clerk. You have to understand that Lou Lipman didn’t even try to put these things together, and that it is my own scholarship that has revealed the pattern of abuse scattered in hundreds of pages of notes made over several years. Maria Santopietro, according to the Lipman notes, here it is, said that ‘Isaac Harris shouted at Jacobs in his office, in a meeting behind a closed door, but she could hear some of the words.’ She told Lipman that she ‘heard Harris telling Jacobs off for taking advantage of the women workers, and told him it had to stop, that this was a decent place of business,’ but the notes are not very detailed, so that’s all I have.”

“It’s damning,” George said, “but not absolutely conclusive. Especially not about Pauline, who never told anyone her story. I agree that if anyone knew, it was Esther.”

“It isn’t what we would hope for in source material,” said Ruth, “but I am trying to find any other references in all the Triangle sources that might shed further light. And of course we can always wonder how many other women had a story to tell about Jacobs or some of the other men in this factory, and then, when you multiply that by the number of garment factories extant in New York in that time period—well, the mind reels at the possible widespread scale of sexual abuse.”

“You don’t have to cast your net any wider to be appalled,” said George.

“So I must ask you a rather delicate question now, Rebecca.” Ruth looked nervously from Rebecca to George and back to Rebecca again. She pushed the microphone another inch closer to Rebecca.

“Yes? What?” Rebecca asked impatiently.

“Could this have happened to Esther also? What makes you absolutely certain that Sam Gottesfeld was the father of Esther’s baby? Have you ever had any reason to doubt your father’s paternity? Is it remotely possible that Sam Gottesfeld agreed to marry your grandmother because she was pregnant by another man? Could Jacobs have raped both sisters? Have you ever given consideration to these issues?”

“Wow,” George said. “No kidding, rather delicate!” He picked up the spectacles again, turned them over in his hands a few times, gazing down at them pensively.

“I think I saw that episode of Law & Order,” Rebecca said after a pause. She looked at Ruth, who met her eyes for a moment before looking down to jot something in her notebook. “Are you serious, Ruth? I can’t believe you would actually ask me this.”