A Ruby by Any Other Name

Ruby Carmichael, a skinny thirteen-year-old, finds her stepfather leaning over her mother's deceased body. Protruding from Eleanor's chest was a pair of scissors plunged deep in her chest. Eleanor had been Jack Parade's ex-wife for more than five years. ... Jack turned and stared at Ruby, who was standing at the kitchen entrance. Ruby stared in disbelief. Her stepdad was leaning over her mother, and her mother was dead on the floor. Eleanor's face was white with fear, and her eyes were bulging out. Jack reached around Eleanor's body to check for a pulse. She was dead. She died after the one scream that was heard by Ruby, Jack, the two men that ran through the laundry room to the rear exit, and the two men who climbed through Eleanor's bedroom window. Ruby was numb with fear. ... ... "Ruby, what are you doing here?" ... ... "Dad, you were touching the scissors in Mom's chest. I saw you. Why?..". Jack Parade marries Maria Louisa Garcia-Stewart and becomes the stepfather of her twin eleven-year-old boys. Ruby instantly becomes a sister, daughter, granddaughter and niece. This is all overwhelming to a young, private girl who suffers with emotional problems, as well as, being eccentric with bouts of depression. She is considered a suspect in her mother's murder. Ruby's life is in danger along with her new family. Ruby has a secret that even Ruby doesn't know about. Her biological father, Lester Carmichael, who was just released from prison after a ten year sentence, wants Ruby. He wants her dead or alive. Eleanor's boyfriend, Boris also wants Ruby, but he wants Ruby alive.