It is said that a positive integer $n > 1$ has the property ($p$) if in its prime factorization $n = p_1^{a_1} \cdot ... \cdot p_j^{a_j}$ at least one of the prime factors $p_1, ... , p_j$ has the exponent equal to $2$. a) Find the largest number $k$ for which there exist $k$ consecutive positive integers that do not have the property ($p$). b) Prove that there is an infinite number of positive integers $n$ such that $n, n + 1$ and $n + 2$ have the property ($p$).