Jojo didn’t even deign to reply, just gave an indignant sniff and winked out of sight.

“Aw, man!” one of the tourists complained, fiddling with his camera. “Why’d you have to scare her off, lady?”

My temper stirring, I gave him a look that shut him up, then scanned the area. Three of the four hobgoblins were nowhere to be seen. They couldn’t vanish into thin air like fairies, but they were fast, and they could camouflage themselves as rocks or bushes in the blink of an eye. As long as they held still, it was hard to spot them.

Lucky for me, the bagman-goblin wasn’t as speedy as the others; when the Bieber-goblin yelled scatter, he’d taken off down the dock, where there was nowhere to hide for a good hundred yards.

I raced after him, my Keds thudding against the wooden dock. Hearing my footsteps, the bagman-goblin turned on the jets. If I’d had a clear shot, I could have caught him, but there were tourists strolling along and that little bugger was agile. He scooted underneath a distinguished-looking Great Dane being walked on a leash and bounded over a baby stroller being pushed by a young couple.

I had to go around them, apologizing breathlessly. I should have caught up to the bagman-goblin in the park with the gazebo, but by the time I reached it, he’d gone to earth, hiding.

“Where are you, you little creep?” I looked around. “C’mon, I know you’re here.” A group of tourists gave me an odd look.

I ignored them. There was a hedge of boxwood around the base of the gazebo. And unless I was mistaken, that bit of shrubbery on the end was trembling. Squinting, I peered through the camouflage glamour to see the bagman-goblin trying very hard to hold perfectly still, his narrow chest heaving with exertion.

So lazy hobgoblins could get out of shape. Who knew? I tackled him before he could run again.

“Oof!” Lying on his back, he raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay! I give.” He batted his beady, lashless eyes at me. “We were just having fun.”

“I know.” I plucked a crumpled wad of twenties from his clutches. “And I’m just doing my job.”

“Spoilsport,” the hobgoblin grumbled.

“Uh-huh.” I sorted through the bills, separating the real ones from the fairy gold counterfeits.

“We’ll give you half our take,” he said in a wheedling voice.

“No can do.” I dropped the false twenties on his chest, where they turned to dry, brittle oak leaves. “And I’d like my sunglasses back.”

“Yeah?” The hobgoblin smirked. “Good luck with that.”

I got off him and stood, patting my messenger bag. “You know, I could have drawn steel on you and I didn’t.”

A hint of fear crossed his face. “You wouldn’t. Not for this.”