Standing in the basement security line at the federal courthouse on Tuesday, the women who were the victims of Jeffrey Epstein blended in easily with all the other people trying to make their way into what would become an extraordinary criminal case hearing.

Hair pulled back or straightened, makeup done, the women chatted softly and appeared composed. And what few others who noticed them knew, was that soon U.S. District Judge Richard Berman would ask the women to step forward inside a cavernous Manhattan courtroom, so that they could tell their stories of sexual abuse and of life afterwards, even though the defendant in the criminal prosecution, Epstein, had died by apparent suicide two weeks before.