Introduction

When the longtime abuse by a university’s softball coach of teenagers in its youth summer softball program—and the university’s strategic cover-up of those crimes—comes to light, a community is turned upside down in this drama-filled thriller perfect for fans of Kate Elizabeth Russell and Allison Leotta.

Campus, corporate, and local politics collide when a high-profile sexual misconduct scandal rocks a prominent university.

Serena Stanfield, Mountain Hill University’s human resources director, has just learned that the school’s softball coach has been molesting teenagers in its youth summer softball program for years, and that the university has covered it up from both her and the public. Troy Abernathy, a junior associate at an international investigations firm, is navigating a turbulent, toxic workplace as the company aims to be retained by the university to investigate these sexual assault allegations. Megan Black, a new member of the Mountain Hill City Council, is thrust into the fallout from the national scandal while she simultaneously focuses on securing a presidential commutation for her childhood friend, who is unfairly facing decades in prison after stabbing her abusive husband to death in self-defense.

As additional disturbing details of the coach’s actions are uncovered, Serena, Troy, Megan, and other prominent community figures confront competing interests and unique obstacles while they each pursue different paths toward obtaining justice for the softball program’s sexual abuse survivors—and offer conflicting understandings of what justice would even mean.

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Excerpt

Chapter 1 - Serena

Age doesn’t matter. Especially with someone as mature as you.

Serena allowed these toxic words to marinate in her mind as she reached into the top right drawer of her mahogany desk and withdrew a stick of cinnamon gum from the open pack. She would have preferred one of her peppermint lozenges, but sometimes they gave her short-lived sneezing fits, and there wasn’t time for that. Instead she delicately peeled back the gum wrapper, then shoved the spicy stick into her mouth, which had remained agape since she’d read those same words on yet another document three minutes ago.

She slowly began to chew and savor the needed pop of soothing flavor while glancing at the beautiful campus outside her second-floor office window. Red brick buildings, lush green fields, stone paths, and the immaculate new student center that would open soon, after the undergraduates returned en masse and this sparsely populated summer world once again burst into frenzied activity.

For the past forty-eight hours, Serena had pored over hundreds of documents buried in the legal department’s electronic archives. One father’s call had initiated her search while simultaneously plunging her into a cauldron of unbearable guilt. Now it was time to get other people involved.

But who? It was undeniable the university president was complicit, so who should she contact? Who could she trust? For the past decade, the general counsel had approved all the settlements and nondisclosure agreements. The Title IX coordinator position had been vacant for nine months. Who else was there? The board of trustees? The police? The hacks on the Mountain Hill City Council?

Maybe Drew. Possibly she could trust him.

Before reaching for the phone, she decided to look things over just one more time. The manila folders were stacked neatly in front of her, the papers in each one appropriately sorted and stapled and labeled and highlighted. She opened the first, stared at the documents, then turned to the next folder, with the new name and legal agreements from three years later. The similarly sickening allegations, the same odious language.

Age doesn’t matter. Especially with someone as mature as you.

She steeled herself for what was about to come. She knew the university would try to cover it up, just as they had for years. But she wouldn’t let it happen this time. She was going to stand up and sound the alarm and protect these girls and stop this monster.

Serena punched in Drew’s extension.

“General counsel’s office,” came Drew Kosick’s young, enthusiastic voice.

“Drew, it’s Serena. Are you alone?”

“No, I have a couple of people here. Is something wrong?”?“I’m coming over. Clear your office.”

“I can’t. We’re in the middle of something important. Can we meet this aft—”

“No.” She clicked off the call, grabbed her bag, and headed for the door.

Serena then stopped and turned back to look at her office, wondering if she’d ever see the inside of this space again. The chances were good she’d be swiftly escorted off campus and terminated for accessing confidential documents without authorization. Should she take a minute to collect a few things? She already had copies of the relevant files at home. She looked around and saw her family photos and assorted books, including the latest Caleb Lugo novel that she hadn’t yet begun reading. On the wall behind her desk, the framed undergraduate diploma she’d earned twenty-five years ago from this university hung proudly.

No, she couldn’t allow material possessions to slow her down. She needed to get moving now.

Out the door, down the steps, into the suffocating August humidity, as her white blouse began to stick to her back. Across the central campus hub, down a few blocks, faster and faster she walked until the auburn hair that usually brushed across her forehead was matted with sweat. The moment Serena stepped into the building, she was enveloped by a blast of merciful air-conditioning. She rode the elevator to the fifth floor, then burst into Drew’s office.

She didn’t bother to knock, just swung the door open and announced, “Sorry, I need everyone to leave.” Then she saw it was only Drew, looking startled as he stood there in front of his desk. Tall, lanky, thin faced, brown haired, and wearing the university-approved male professional summer attire of jeans and a polo shirt. Serena looked around the room and said, “I thought you had people in here.”

“I did. I asked them to come back later. I hope this really is important.”

She closed the door and stared at him for a beat before speaking. “For the past ten years, Rob Dempsey has been molesting girls in the university’s youth summer softball program.”

Drew’s face looked frozen for a few seconds, then he blinked. “Oh my God. How do you know this?”

“One girl’s father called me two days ago, and that led me to find many other credible complaints in university records. Many. Very credible.”

Drew looked down at the metallic paper shredder next to his desk. He ran a few fingers across his chin as his head momentarily twitched. Finally he looked back at Serena and said decisively, “We have to tell Tim.”

Naturally he’d first think of Tim Durso, his boss. Mountain Hill University’s general counsel.

“He knows,” she answered. “He’s known for years. He signed off on settlements and NDAs with some of the families to keep this quiet.”

Drew shook his head in disbelief. “That’s not possible without others finding out.”

“I have the documents. It all happened with the support of the president. And our beloved athletic director.”

“Fuck. Are you sure?”

“Yes. The father’s name is Darren Tyrell. He called me in tears, barely able to finish a sentence. His daughter Ali is twenty-two now, and last week she told him that when she was fourteen and attended the softball camp, Rob got very close to her, became a real mentor, and had her perform oral sex on him at least four times.”

Drew grimaced. “Did he force her?”?“Does it matter? She was fourteen. He was forty.”

“It’s wrong either way, obviously.” He paused for a few seconds, then said, “But I think it does matter. Doesn’t it?”

“Drew, the father cried as he told me how his daughter held this in for so long. She moved back home recently, and he could tell she was struggling with something. He got her to start seeing a therapist, and after a while, she told her father what Dempsey had done to her. And he finally understood why for years she hadn’t slept well, couldn’t keep up in school, and had trouble making friends. He cried as he told me he’d failed his daughter, totally failed to protect her.”

“That’s horrible,” he answered quietly, then closed his eyes. Serena wondered what he was thinking. Was he considering the horrors of the sexual abuse itself or that he’d been ignorantly unaware of the cover-up around him?

Did he feel any of the culpability that ravaged Serena now? A crucial part of her job was to protect people from exactly these types of atrocities, but she’d been inexcusably ignorant. She’d battled irrational guilt over trivial issues her entire life, but there was nothing irrational about her feeling responsible for this tragic failure.

“And you know what he said to this girl?” Serena asked, struggling to keep her voice steady as Drew’s eyes popped back open. “When he was grooming her in our youth softball program, telling her how much potential she had, instructing her and all the others to affectionately call him ‘Uncle Rob’? He asked if she’d ever been with an older guy, and he said, ‘Age doesn’t matter. Especially with someone as mature as you.’”

Nervous disgust flashed across Drew’s face. “We have to tell Tim. Right now.” He picked up his office phone, but before he could initiate the call, Serena grabbed it away. She shook her head as she placed it back in its cradle.

“Tim investigated the first complaint almost ten years ago. And five others since then with very similar allegations. Two investigations involved girls who wouldn’t agree to be interviewed, so Rob Dempsey was found not responsible. But get this, their families received settlement payments”—Drew closed his eyes again—“right before the girls said they wouldn’t cooperate. Four other accusations were dismissed as inconclusive because of the whole ‘he said, she said’ bullshit. But you know what three of these girls separately reported that he said? Three girls, not counting the one whose father I spoke with two days ago.”

“Age doesn’t matter?”?She nodded. “Especially with someone as mature as you.”

“Christ.”

“So that’s four girls over the course of a decade, all independently reporting he said the same thing before he molested them. Four girls who didn’t know each other! And despite that powerful corroboration, because he’s so fucking prominent in the softball world with all the championships and accolades for his underprivileged girls program, the university simply directed him not to be alone with any females under eighteen without another adult present. And to attend some bullshit training classes about proper coaching protocols. Doubtful any of that was ever enforced. He was allowed to keep coaching! Who knows how many girls there are who never reported. How many he’s doing this to now. And all this was kept from me!” She paused before she reminded Drew, “Tim’s part of the cover-up.”

Drew looked down at the phone. She sensed he wanted to pick it up, and she readied herself to again snatch it away. He then stared back at her, his mouth moving silently for a moment before he finally uttered, “So what should we do, Serena?”

“I don’t know, but as deputy general counsel you’re the highest-ranking legal person who doesn’t appear to be compromised. Your name wasn’t on any of the paperwork, so I’m assuming you had no idea about any of this.”

“Of course I had no idea! I never would have let this happen if I’d known. We have to go to Tim. That’s the proper protocol. We’ll approach him together, and we’ll both make sure it’s not ignored this time. As the father of two young daughters, I care a lot about—”

“Okay, yeah, yeah,” she interrupted, rolling her eyes. “Daughters. Caring. Got it.”

She shook her head. She’d hoped for more from Drew. Just as she’d hoped for more from the university. But everyone was just looking to cover their own asses. “You know what,” she said, “forget I brought this to you. When these things go public, people always ask who knew what when, and how they responded. Your solution is to go to the guy who’s been covering this up. I just thought of a better idea.” Serena turned around and reached for the door.

“Wait! Where are you going?”

She opened it, and then glanced back at Drew. “He’s holding practice right now. I’m putting an end to this myself. I’m not letting him spend another minute with these girls.” Then she surged out the door and headed to the nearby stairwell, hearing urgent footsteps behind her as she rushed down the stairs. Back into the hot summer air, she briskly moved down the main walkway toward the nearby athletic center and the two neighboring ballfields.

Drew came running up beside her, breathing heavily. “You can’t do this. Please, Serena. Don’t. What happened before is unacceptable, but this isn’t right either.” She kept walking, looking ahead and ignoring him. “Think! They’ll fire you.”

Serena already knew that possibility. And the idea of losing her job made her queasy. Her daughter Kayla was a rising sophomore on a full ride because Serena was a longtime employee. If the university fired her, suddenly having to pay the exorbitant college tuition as a single mother would plunge her family into financial calamity. But she couldn’t let that deter her.

“That would be quite a story,” she shot back without breaking her stride. “Terminating me for disrupting the work of a pedophile. He’s literally the wolf in sheep’s clothing, and I’m the only one who gives a shit!”

“I care, Serena! You know I do. That’s why you came to me. But this is crazy!” he pleaded.

She just kept walking, her mind full of determination.

They charged down the hill amid the smell of late summer and freshly cut grass, and there in front of them were two beautiful, perfectly manicured ballfields, with the brown dirt infields at opposite ends of the wide green expanse facing each other. Now about forty yards from the closest diamond, she could see a small figure swing a bat and make contact with a pitch as a loud ping pierced the air, and the yellow ball tumbled down the third base line. The girl dropped the bat and sprinted in her purple-and-white camp uniform to first base as the fielder at third swept up the grounder and flung it across the diamond.

Serena continued her march toward the field with Drew hustling right behind her. The camper playing first base held one foot on the bag while she stuck out her other leg and reached as far as she could. As the ball smacked into her outstretched glove, the runner’s right foot hit the base. Meanwhile, Serena was still moving, not as fast as the speedy teenager, but similarly getting increasingly closer to her destination.

“Safe!” declared a confident and assertive male voice, and Serena’s head immediately focused on the man standing in the middle of the infield wearing a purple MHU baseball cap, gray athletic shorts, a purple-and-white MHU softball T-shirt, and a silver whistle hanging from a black lanyard around his neck.

Rob Dempsey’s strong arms and hands began clapping, and a smile spread across his handsome middle-aged face. “Way to run it out, Jamie! Excellent fielding, Marissa! Love that throw. Really tough play and you almost got it there in time! Great stretch at first, Iyanna. I’ve been coaching softball a long time and you girls are really, really—”

“This practice is over!” Serena hollered from shallow left-center field as her sweaty frame grew closer to the infield, and she noted that Drew’s vigorous attempts to keep up with her abruptly stopped as the words left her mouth. “Right now! Over!”

The players turned toward her, those on the field and in the dugouts, with looks of surprise and confusion. The coach turned in her direction too with a quizzical expression.

“We’re in the middle of practice here, ma’am—”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me.” She was now fifteen feet away and closing in. “I said this practice is over.”

“I’d say everybody heard you. Who are you?” he responded, looking her up and down.

“Serena Stanfield. Human resources director,” she announced as she tried to catch her breath. A few feet away, Drew shook his head and seemed intent to speak, but no words came out. All around, the players stared at Serena. Near the third base dugout a couple of girls held up their phones.

“What’s this about?” Dempsey asked, leaning in toward her and clearly growing more agitated as they met on the infield grass, now just a couple of feet apart.

“End this practice now,” she ordered. “Then follow me.”

He pointed at her and snapped, “You don’t talk to me like that. And you don’t interrupt this practice. Get off my field now.”

She was about to respond when the petite shortstop with a crimson ponytail extending from her MHU visor called out, “Yeah, get off the field, bitch!”

She glanced at the girl, opened her mouth to answer, and then shook her head and turned back to Dempsey. “You want to know what this is about, Coach?” She then stepped closer to him and whispered, “Age doesn’t matter. Especially with someone as mature as you.”

Dempsey stepped back a couple of paces, looked down, pulled off his cap, then raked his fingers through his thick, graying hair. His face looked somber and uneasy as he stared into the distance and then responded in a low voice, “You need to speak with Tim Durso. He already looked into those lies.”

“Oh, I know he did,” she said emphatically, nodding her head. “I know all about how Tim ‘looked into’ them. And let me promise you something, Uncle Rob . . .”

“What’s that?”

She stared at him intently, trying with maximum effort to establish the eye contact he was earnestly resisting.

“Tim won’t save you this time.”

There was one more adult present, standing near home plate. She recognized him from the online team softball photos as Cole Malinowski. Early thirties, well-built, a former MHU standout baseball player. Serena had read that Rob Dempsey took him under his wing long ago, with Cole serving for most of the past decade as assistant coach and assistant director of the softball camp. Cole stayed where he was but kept shifting his weight from side to side. Serena could see the young coach didn’t know what Dempsey expected of him.

Serena trained her eyes on him, as one of the key questions she’d wanted answered, ever since she first uncovered the sordid actions of the university’s pedophile softball coach, engulfed her brain.

Cole, what have you known about all this? she thought. For all these years and all these girls, you were right by his side. While he sexually abused his players and damaged their lives, how much were you aware of while you did nothing? While you remained absolutely silent. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

1. Open Bar is told from the perspective of three different main characters, who view the key events and issues of the novel in strikingly dissimilar ways. What is the significance of character perspective in Open Bar and how does each person’s viewpoint impact their actions and how they view the other individuals?

2. What challenges do each of the main characters face when attempting to confront injustice, and how does the threat and reality of retaliation influence their decisions?

3. Open Bar explores what it means to “tell the truth” and what that costs. In what ways does the book show that truth is not simply revealed, but negotiated, contested, and sometimes suppressed?

4. Do you agree with Emma’s decision to reveal her firm’s investigative work on behalf of Caleb Lugo? If not, what should she have done?

5. In the context of real-world movements to prevent and address issues of sexual assault (e.g., #MeToo, #TimesUP, and Title IX), how does the response to sexual allegations in Open Bar differ from how these situations are generally portrayed in the media?

6. Serena has to make several challenging decisions regarding how to confront the university administration on behalf of many sexual assault survivors. Do you agree with her choices, and what different tactics could she have taken?

7. How does Troy’s internal conflict with career ambitions, ethics, and loyalty illustrate the pressures faced by individuals in corporate settings?

8. How does Megan’s dual role as public figure and private advocate complicate her decisions and choices?

9. What does Evina’s fight for freedom say about whether clemency decisions are based on the merits of such cases or political considerations?

10. What is the significance of Julia crying, and how should Troy have responded to her at that time?

11. Why is this novel called Open Bar, and how does the title relate to the key themes and issues in the story?

Weblinks

»	Kirkus Review of Book A timely and absorbing novel that asks what it costs to tell the truth.
»	Dan Schorr's website
»	Publisher's book info
»	Dan's Substack

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