Free Katie Beers by Buried Memories: Katie Beers' Story Page B

on?
    “Years.”
    Did you ever tell an adult about it?
    “No.” he took another hard drag of the cigarette, holding it with his thumb and middle finger.
    Why didn’t you ever tell anyone, you were ashamed….?
    The question went on circuitously while John dragged hard on the butt. You could see smoke curl up out of his mouth and into his nostrils. He exhaled and responded obliquely, “I just didn’t want to.”
    What do you want to happen to John Esposito now? Do you want to see him punished for what he did to you?
    “Yes and no. I do and I don’t because…he’s a friend.”
    You still consider him a friend despite what you say happened?
    “Yes.”
    Is that because he bought you gifts and did things for you?
    John nodded no.
    So why would you call him a good friend if he did those things to you? Did you talk to police?
    “I talked to police,” he said, exhaling smoke.
    At sixteen years old, John had movie star looks. High cheek bones and big blue eyes, cupid bow lips, a slightly oversized nose too large for his sculpted face. But he lived in Mastic Beach, dubbed “Appalachia without the mountains” 7 by one late-night TV comic, and all of his beautiful looks were packaged in a coat of street grime and dime-store pleather.
    Did they do anything. Did they investigate?
    “Not really, I didn’t tell them what he did.”
    Do you think John Esposito would want to hurt Katie?
    “I don’t think so, no.”
    Do you think Sal Inghilleri would hurt Katie?
    “I’m not sure about him. I don’t like him.”
    Why not?
    “He’s a liar, a two-faced fat slob.”
    One of John’s friends giggled loudly and John revealed a smile of chipped broken front teeth, chiseling away at the movie star charm.
    Well, he’s suggesting that the family here in Mastic was involved in rituals .
    “No, we were not involved in rituals or Satanism.”
    Why pick now to say something about what John Esposito did to you ?
    “I think it’s the right time to say something.”
    Help me understand more on that.
    “That’s all I’m saying.”
    Another reporter pushed beyond the comfort zone.
    You realize by saying these things about John Esposito in Bay Shore, you are taking the focus off you and your family here in Mastic? You know this is an extensive investigation into where your sister is. People are confused; they want to know if something happened to her here instead of with John Esposito who was the last person to see her?
    Now John was glaring at the reporter.
    “I don’t know if anything happened to her out here. All I know is she said Sal did something to her.”
    No one told her to say that because there was a custody dispute?
    “No.”
    You say John Esposito molested you. Do you think he would have done that to Katie?
    “I don’t know.”
    Is it possible?
    He blinked, “Yeah, it’s probably possible.”
    Why do you say that?
    “I don’t know. It’s just my gut feeling. I don’t know why. Strange feeling I have.”

LOW NOTE
    Almost ten days after Katie’s disappearance, the press, the public, and most significantly, the police were truly baffled. Privately they were telling reporters they were split as to whether she was kidnapped or killed. 8 It couldn’t be established if Katie was ever at Spaceplex. No one saw her there. What’s more, no one had seen John Esposito in Spaceplex either, until he claimed she went missing. The infamous “man with a knife” phone call was made, it was determined by police, at 5:06 pm from a phone booth across the street from Spaceplex in Nesconset. Eight minutes later, John was imploring the arcade manager to page Katie. Eight minutes. Those crucial eight minutes haunted detectives, their instincts relentlessly reminding them that there was no accounting for John Esposito’s whereabouts at the time Katie’s voice was being left on Linda’s answering machine.
    They traced the mysterious phone call to a phone booth at an Amoco Gas Station. A New York Telephone worker was installing a