Chapter 136
Chapter 136: The Portrait in the Attic
In the autumn of 2094, young Claire found an old canvas painting wrapped in faded burlap behind a cedar chest in the attic of the Virginia house. It was an unfinished oil portrait of Janet Davis, painted by Robert in 1985—the year his business was at its absolute peak.
The portrait showed Janet sitting in a luxurious leather chair, her face haughty and unyielding, her throat wrapped in a massive diamond necklace that had later been liquidated by the federal marshals.
Young Claire brought it down to the sunroom, setting it against the brick wall. "Look what I found, Mom. It looks like a painting of a ghost."
Claire stood before the canvas, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked at her grandmother’s cold, painted eyes—the eyes of a woman who had spent her entire existence treating her secondary daughter like a subordinate tool while looking down on the rest of the world from a false pedestal.
"She spent so much money trying to look immortal, Claire," Claire said softly, her voice cool and clinical. "She thought that canvas and diamonds would make people remember her name with reverence. But today, the only reason her picture is even down from that attic is because we need the space for our blueprint archives."
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"Should we keep it?" young Claire asked.
"No," Claire said. "The canvas is old, but the wooden frame is high-quality cedar. Take the painting out, burn the cloth in the furnace, and use the cedar wood to build a birdhouse for the terrace. Let something honest live in that frame."
