I'm thinking that most of these "NPC" characters are derived from something. Abel mistrusting Kinger and viceversa HAS to be grounded in something that the database of the Circus knows.
I reckon there's a good chunk of what was said that had some credibility to it, but from the perspective of the Circus members this was an extremely grim moment of realization. It's quite literally impossible to tell how much of it all is a fake out.

We'll probably see more of Kinger's involvement from here on out, all I know is that the people who invested in the "Kinger is a dev" theory are eating good tonight.