Grandpa Finds Kittens in His Barn – Then the Vet Looks Up at the Hayloft and Turns Pale

Then she got up, walked to the cap, and picked up her kitten by the scruff. She carried it back to the others. And one by one, she carried all five of them up the stack of bales, the way she must have carried them down, until the whole family had vanished into the dark of the hayloft.

Lily was crying and laughing at the same time. June was just crying. Dr. Okafor picked the two cut wires out of the straw and turned them over in the light. Near the end of each cable, someone had crimped on a small aluminum tag, the kind trappers use to mark their own line.

Stamped into the metal were two letters and a number. "Walt," the vet said. "Who did you say bought the Doyle place?" Walt took the tag and read it. His face hardened. "I didn't," he said. "But I've got a feeling Lily's man in the orange hat is about to get a visitor."