Hattie stares at Elias for several moments, trying to judge whether he's serious or not.  Finally she seems to decide that it doesn't matter.

"Ha!  You forgot the Wood Devils, young man.  And the ghost of Ruth Blay, God rest her.  And the Witch of the Woods, who lives in the clearing with her hounds and steals away -- wait, that one's me!  Sorry, forget myself sometimes.  Ha!"

She shakes her head.  "Look.  In two months time, this whole area is going to be crawling with leaf peepers from New York and Boston.  That's not going to let up until January at the earliest.  During that time, there's not going to be a square inch that the tourists don't walk over, poke their noses into, or piss on.  If there was a goblin or ghostie in these parts, someone would have snapped a photo on their cellphone by now.  And anything spooky with any sense would have moved far north of here by now."

[quote]'Mister Malkinson, Miss Hattie, if we get time later, I'd like to interview you both more thoroughly,'[/quote]
"Well, sure.  But let's find this missing boy first.  I have a feeling that could change the questions a bit."