“No wonder Culpepper’s upset,” commented Lucy. “First the layoffs and now this. There won’t be any jobs left in town.”

“I heard about that. Are you okay?”

“So far.” Lucy shrugged, watching as Barney Culpepper grabbed a young man wearing a ragg sweater by the shoulders and shook him.

“Who’s that?” asked Lucy.

“Jonathan Franke, the new APTC director,” answered Lydia. “Association for the Preservation of Tinker’s Cove,” she added for Helen’s benefit.

Conversation in the coffee shop had stopped. Everyone watched to see if there would be a fight, but Culpepper merely dropped his hands and mumbled something to Franke, who left.

“It’s just not fair,” the officer said to his companions. “People in this town care more about osprey and owls than they do about people. I’ve worked here my whole life, but I can’t afford to buy a house. In fact, my rent’s going up next month and I don’t know how I’m going to pay that. ”

His companions nodded and murmured assent.

“Now they want to stop building houses for a year. What’s that going to do to you, Mark?”

“I’ll have to go someplace else, I guess. Especially since Patti got laid off last night. I sure as hell ain’t gonna make it here.”

“I’m thinking of switching to remodeling,” admitted Frank Martignetti, a master builder known for his expensive custom homes.

“Good luck,” said Culpepper. “You’ll have a devil of a time getting anything approved by that planning commission. Nope, this town is a good place to live if you’re an owl or a salmon, but it really stinks if you’re a workingman.” He set his police cap squarely on his head, shifted his holster, and stalked out the door.

“Gosh, I hope nobody’s double-parked out there,” Lucy quipped.

“He has a point, Lucy. It’s very hard for young people to get a start here,” said Lydia. “Most of my students’ parents are really struggling.”

Lucy nodded. “The average house costs about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

“Right,” said Lydia. “Say he makes twenty-five thousand, and she makes twelve, that’s thirty-seven thousand a year. Most people don’t even make that; a lot of our kids get subsidized lunches. But, say a family is doing pretty well, they’re both working, they still can’t afford twelve hundred a month for a mortgage payment—and that’s if they’ve managed to get together thirty thousand for a down payment.”

“We’re lucky we bought when we did.”