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little führer was constantly bungling experiments, dismissing his absent-minded failings with his signature “Ah, shit.” “He was good at the theory, but at practical things he was no good,” Sylvie would later explain. “He was so nervous, he would make mistakes. His mind would wander. He would put too many drops in the solution, that kind of thing.” [16] Despite his disorganized headspace, Lépine’s raw intelligence managed to earn him an A+ in the course.
    Sylvie Drouin’s relationship with Lépine was remarkable in that she was one of the few women he allowed into his personal life. When she learned that he was a wizard with computers, Sylvie asked if he would mind helping her with homework for a night course she was taking on the subject. Lépine was eager to assist, and on her first visit to 2175 Bordeaux, she thoroughly enjoyed watching him demonstrate 3-D modelling techniques and colouring on his computer. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that his intentions were not to teach her, but to wow her with his outstanding computer prowess.“He needed to feel important to other people,” Sylvie perceived. “He didn’t teach me. He just wanted to solve the problems himself and hand them to me.” In her opinion, the controlling and patronizing approach Lépine took to teaching and teamwork would have adversely affected his love life:
I think in his mind, the girl has to worship everything he does, that everything he does is right. Like in those first few labs.… If you follow him and his ways, things are fine. If you don’t, there is nothing. He gets very cold and withdrawn.… I like the different kind, not whackos, but different. But to be with a guy like that, you would have to give your whole life to him, just follow him. [17]
    Lépine’s patriarchal views were not confined to his private life. Laboratory assistant Andre Tremblay recalls the twenty-two-year-old bringing a tabloid newspaper into class featuring a story about a female police officer who had rescued an elderly man from a house fire. Lépine had launched into an irrational polemic about how women were not physically fit to work in law enforcement, mentioning that there were only six employed on the Montreal police force. Incredulous, Andre asked where he had obtained such information, to which Lépine replied, “To date, I have only found the names of six of them in newspaper stories.…” [18] For a man of supposedly high intelligence, Lépine had seemingly missed two salient points: 1) the article intrinsically disproved his notions about female police competence; and 2) counting names featured in newspapers was hardly a logical way to collect statistics regarding gender representation in the Montreal police. If he were counting the male officers chronicled in the media, for instance, he would undoubtedly arrive at a smaller number than those employed by the force. At this juncture, one can only wonder: was the cheese beginning to slide off Lépine’s cracker?
    With only two months left in his education at Control Data, on March 31 Lépine followed the same academic pattern he had his whole life: he quit. Jean Cloutier remembers his astonishment: “With his background in electronics, plus his high standings in programming, he was well on his way to becoming a computer genius.” [19] Two weeks later, Lépine stopped by Control Data to return some books, dismissing questions about his sudden lack of attendance with a few vague sentences about pursuing another career. Although he continued to attend chemistry class, pretending to Sylvie Dourin that he was still taking courses at Control Data, she began to perceive him becoming withdrawn. Andre Tremblay noticed that Lépine’s eyes were red, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well. In an attempt to coax him out of his shell, Sylvie invited Lépine to a Thursday-night party at a downtown bar, but he refused, saying, “No, I don’t drink and I never go in that kind of place.” He