IT’S UNCLEAR EXACTLY how Alayne Gentul died, but there’s evidence she wasn’t inside the South Tower when it crumbled. Unlike the fragmented remains of people trapped in the collapse, Alayne’s body was found intact, across the street, still dressed in her red blazer. Her husband, Jack, understood the implication: Alayne apparently was one of the scores of men and women who jumped or fell to their deaths. Jack had hoped that she was unconscious from smoke inhalation, inside the building when it fell. But if Alayne chose an ending on her own terms, he accepted that.
