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Motels, particularly budget motels, weren't renowned for their security. This fact had suited Buddy well for quite some time. It made it all too easy for him to partake in his favorite hobby: watching Kevin.
At first, Buddy had visited in person. He still did when possible. Always when Kevin was asleep. But that was risky and impractical, so Buddy had eventually taken to watching through cameras he'd hidden around the other man's motel room.
There was something about being able to watch the man in his most private moments that made something inside Buddy positively keen. Buddy didn't think even Kevin knew the layout of his home quite as well as Buddy did. Buddy could have drawn a map and pointed to the exact spot Kevin kept each belonging. He knew which drawer Kevin kept his socks in, that Kevin hung his shirts on the left side of the closet and kept his pants on the right, and even that the cell phone charger Kevin had lost had slipped behind the nightstand. One day, if Kevin didn't discover it, Buddy would move it somewhere Kevin would easily stumble upon.
Sometimes, Buddy would move things around slightly to throw Kevin off. If ACME's lawyer noticed Avery's milk was going bad, he'd throw it out and replace it with a new one. Then, he'd watch the puzzled look on Kevin's face as he found it, knowing that while the other lawyer would ultimately conclude he'd bought it himself and simply forgotten, there'd be something about that explanation that didn't feel right to Kevin.
But recently, Buddy's hobby had been interrupted by a rather annoying client of Kevin's. Wile E. Coyote had upended everything. It wasn't enough for the coyote to make trouble at work. He had to make it impossible for Buddy to continue watching Kevin. First, Buddy had watched his computer screen in disbelief as the coyote set up security system after security system to prevent anyone from entering. Buddy knew better than to attempt to disable the traps; the coyote's traps could just as easily blow up in Buddy's face as in Wile's.
Then, days afterward, every single one of Buddy's cameras had been taken down. The last image they had recorded was Wile smirking into the cameras as he gave them the middle finger. This was even more troubling than the traps. Had Wile told Kevin about the cameras? Quite likely. If so, would they go to the police? It shouldn't matter even if they did; Buddy had made sure that the camera purchases and signals couldn't be tracked. Nevertheless, the cameras' mere presence was evidence of some conspiracy, and Buddy doubted Kevin would be easy to surveil now that he'd been alerted.
At least, thanks to Wile, Buddy now got the chance to interact with Kevin in person. It had been years since he and Kevin had talked. Not since the night Kevin had broken things off and started ignoring Buddy's calls and texts. When Kevin and the coyote had come to ACME to discuss the case, Buddy had been relieved to see the way Kevin reacted to him hadn't changed. It wasn't good; they hadn't parted on good terms, after all. But it was civil. A fearful, awkward civility, but civility nonetheless, mixed with awe. Buddy could work with that.
But then, that had changed. The more Kevin discovered about Buddy and his role at ACME, the more he seemed to view Buddy with disgust. Gone was any trace of old affection and respect. It was clear that Kevin couldn't understand the way the world worked and that sometimes one needed to do unfortunate things to gain power. And Buddy wasn't sure he could undo the damage to their relationship.
He knew that ACME would need to get rid of the coyote, or everything he'd wanted would be lost.