 Recorded books presents, The Other Sister, an agent John Adderley novel, by Peter Molen and Peter Nystrom, translated from the Swedish by Ian Giles, narrated by Dionne Graham. Part one, Wednesday. The girls had finally managed to synchronize. They held hands, whooping with laughter as the swings on their metal frame swung to ever greater heights. Their mother missed the performance, her eyes glued to her cell phone, but sitting on a bench around 20 meters away, Alicia could see the joy on their snotty faces. Two sisters, in time with each other in the world, in a perfect, pendular movement. As if they were the same body. It was cold out, a couple of degrees below zero. Alicia's legs were more or less numb by now, nevertheless she surprised herself by lingering. It really wasn't like her to watch kids playing in the park. Ordinarily, Alicia took a taxi home from work. A luxury she afforded herself to avoid stairs on the bus. But today, she had walked the three kilometers from Raw's office in the cross-thought town center to the house in the Norströnt neighborhood. The afternoon sunshine had been so pleasantly warm on her skin that she had stopped a block from her destination and taken a seat on a bench. And there she had remained, drawing stick figures in the snow with her feet and reflecting that today had actually been totally okay. And if it was okay, then the next one could be too, and the one after that. She smiled to herself and shook her head. Here she was, Alicia Bielka, sounding like a self-help book. I need to go pee-pee. The younger girl's voice made the mother with her cell phone react. Alicia had no children of her own, but she could imagine that it took a while to remove the beaver nylon overalls the kid was wearing. Seeking to avoid an accident, the mother dragged the child toward the white wooden building adjacent to the playground. The older sister was left behind with the exhortation not to go anywhere. She kicked off the ground with her feet, although not with the same vigor as before. Being on the swings alone wasn't as much fun. Alicia thought about the conversation she'd had with her own sister about a month earlier. It had been the third Sunday in Advent and before the first snow had fallen. She'd put her cards on the table and told Stella that Raw's launch in Germany had to be pushed back. The dating platform co-founded by the sisters was no longer a side hustle run out of a student dorm. As the chief technology officer, Alicia needed the time and resources to have a fair shot at succeeding in her job. At the moment, the situation had become untenable. She was working fourteen hours a day and dreaming about coding at night. Stella had put an arm around her and listened. She was good at that. Her sis always knew when to talk and when to be quiet. She promised to delay the date by six months. Alicia remembered the relief afterward. For the first time in ages, she'd slept a whole night. Christmas had come and gone almost unnoticed by her as she huddled under her duvet in bed. She looked toward the solitary girl in the swing. She'd picked up speed now. The rubber tire she was sitting on was oscillating at increasingly diagonal angles and eventually it struck the metal frame. The small body took flight through the air before landing in the snow. Alicia ran toward her and crouched. Carefully, she helped the girl to her feet. Are you okay? She said. The girl's flushed face showed her struggling to hold back tears. At the same moment, Alicia heard footsteps behind her. When she turned around, she saw the mother. She must have seen what had happened from the building and hurried back. Their eyes met and Alicia noticed the woman recoil. Come on, let's go inside. She said to her daughter, it was quite a tumble, but she had a soft landing. I think she's probably just scared, said Alicia, standing up. The woman didn't reply. She merely continued to stare. I just wanted to help her. Thank you. We can manage. The mother's eyes wouldn't let go. Alicia recognized the reaction, a blend of fascination and disgust. She could usually take it. It was hardly the first time someone had stared at her face, but this woman was just too much. Alicia had comforted her daughter, and now she was being treated like a pariah. If you're going to keep looking at the freak, then you'll have to pay. She said, holding out her hand. Sample complete. Ready to continue?