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were probably in the top fifteen percent.” [14]
    Outwardly, things seemed to be looking up for Lépine. Having reconnected with his old buddy Érik Cossette from Pierrefonds High School, in June the two moved into a second floor apartment at 2175 Bordeaux. Érik, shorter and fairer than Lépine, was studying theatre at the University of Quebec at Montreal, while Marc entered a chemistry course at CEGEP du Vieux Montreal. Strangely, during Lépine’s last meeting with his former building superintendent Luc Ripoel, he made no mention of his academic pursuits, only of leaving to join the armed forces.
    Lépine’s new apartment was a striking departure from his previous residences. Located in Montreal’s downtown east side, the red brick duplex lay within walking distance of some of Canada’s most exciting nightlife. He decided to forego this opportunity to have fun, continuing to live as a hermit. Nadia’s ex-boyfriend Jacques recalled his futile attempts to help Lépine break out of his shell:
One evening, to help him out, I took him to a bar on St. Denis Street and bought him a rum and Coke. That was his favourite drink, although he wasn’t really much of a drinker. I hoped it would help him relax a bit because he was so nervous he was starting to sweat. He had no idea how to talk to the girls I introduced him to and ended up going home early. When Nadia and I went out with friends, we would often ask him to join us, but he usually said no. [15]
    At 2175 Bordeaux, Lépine ended up with the smaller of the two rooms, spending the last two and a half years of his life sleeping on a sofa bed in an eight-by-ten-foot box. The only window in the room overlooked a network of telephone wires obscuring the alley below. Monique, who had moved into a condominium three blocks away, had helped her son paint the walls turquoise. As a finishing touch, he added two prints, one depicting an epic battle scene.
    The following month, Lépine arrived at his Class of ’82 Pierrefonds High School reunion, looking uncharacteristically suave in a black button-up shirt and dress pants. One of his few friends, Jean Belanger, was absent from the gathering, having accidentally crushed his leg with a garage door. Jean’s ex-girlfriend Gina Cousineau, however, was happy to see him. “He looked like he always looked, that big smile,” Gina recalled in an interview with the Ottawa Sun . “He always had that smile on his face, even if things weren’t going so well.” Lépine spent most of the evening drinking Coca-Cola and clinging to Gina and her fiancé. Though he was halfway through his studies at Control Data, he did not speak of it, saying only that he was attending university in the fall. When Gina inquired about his love life, Lépine said something about a girlfriend who had recently dumped him. He also claimed to have been fired from the hospital by a woman during his three-month probationary period because of one simple error. His replacement was another female employee, a point upon which he seemed particularly angry. The day after the reunion, Lépine called his injured friend Jean and informed him that he was considering a career in the military.
    Chemistry at CEGEP du Vieux Montreal commenced in February 1989. From 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Lépine attended Control Data, devoting two nights a week to his new course. He became lab partners with Sylvie Drouin: a shy twenty-eight-year-old Laval University arts graduate. Like him, she was taking the class as a prerequisite for applying to engineering school. Initially, Sylvie found Lépine attractive, but was quickly turned off by the “fascist” side of his personality. During the first few weeks he criticized her constantly, called her “Fräulein,” and ordered her to wash and fetch things for him. When Sylvie threatened to change lab partners if he didn’t stop, Lépine responded with a silent scowl. For the rest of the term, he was notably more considerate. Paradoxically, the