Abby knew very well, subsequent to [i]innumerable[/i] basic lifesaver courses over the years, that slapping a choking person on the back was pretty much futile. But that didn't mean all the Mom instinct in her wasn't screaming to reach over and give Gavin's back a few hard, helpful smacks anyway when his hot coffee went down all wrong. The only thing that kept her in the seat was the knowledge her erstwhile efforts would probably end up sending scalding coffee in Gavin's lap, and he probably wouldn't thank her for yanking him from an uncomfortable - but recoverable - bit of sputtering, to a burn injury of the groin...

She chuckled at the thought, waving away Gavin's self-deprecations with a wave of her hand and a roll of her eyes until he began to speak in earnest, sharing his own knowledge of the cryobeds even she had not realized. Her fingers wrapped tighter still about the mug in her lap, her shoulders aching and stiff with the tension. Abby had not even considered the idea, that Sy Jacobs could not have managed the medications in the cryobeds on his own, her own expertise [or blinders] leading her to question how the security measures and alarms could have been breached... 

Abby let loose a long, pent-up breath, ice blue eyes closing for a moment against the relentless ache in her head, returned with a vengeance and punctuated like a sledgehammer by Gavin's every last dire word. She let loose her two-fisted death grip around her own mug of coffee, finger and thumb massaging the bridge of her nose some seconds before she could open her eyes semi-comfortably again.

"Oh 'I think,' Gavin. I really [i]do[/i] think. That's why I'm here, talking to the smartest man I've ever met," she said softly, though with a firm conviction as her fingers wrapped about the mug again. "And it doesn't hurt that your coffee's always second to none anyway."

A breathy gasp of a laugh escaped her lips, but Abby knew her small attempt at a jest was lame and broken from the moment it left her mouth, and mercifully died in the air between them.

"But no, nothing you're telling me now doesn't square with the big fat ugly suspicion Second Shift missed something [i]huge.[/i] An accomplice? I'll admit, it's a stretch. The survivor... " Abby let loose of her mug, setting it up on the counter beside them swiftly before the fingers of one hand flickered over her tablet again. She lifted it up a few inches toward her face, squinting and resisting the urge to purloin Gavin's reading glasses again.

"Pauline," Abby said finally, laying the tablet back to her lap again. "Pauline Weber is her name. Pauline only identified one attacker, but... Damn... God alone knows what the hell she had coursing through her veins at the time. And Jacobs never gave up an accomplice's name, not even to save his hide from execution. Then again... " 

Abby's voice trailed off, the frustration gnawing at her gut just begging for some small confidence to lighten the load she carried, even by a single ounce. "Gavin, what I'm about to say doesn't leave this room. [i]Please.[/i] Between you, me, and these four walls, yes?"

She leaned forward toward Gavin without even realizing she did so, as if even this small measure helped keep her words closer still between them. "Even if Jacobs [i]had[/i] coughed up an accomplice, I don't believe for a [i]second[/i] that would have saved him from being shot out an airlock. Jacobs' execution was a foregone conclusion, the moment he laid a finger on General Lahan's daughter."

Abby sighed, and then sat back in her chair once more, taking a long final swallow of her coffee before setting the empty mug on the counter. "And the interviews of Second Shift personnel? They're woefully short on particulars - cursory, at best. All I can imagine is that they had their guy, and wanted the whole Godforsaken mess done and sealed and over with. Anything further digging was just... Well... Unwelcome. [i]Unthinkable.[/i]"

[i]'Unthinkable... Until it suddenly [/i]isn't.'

"No one even thought to nab a friendly cryotech as a subject matter expert either. Antoine Eodore - that's his name. And it was hard not to notice, he was the only one of the cryotechs in the Third Shift briefing who had the [i]huevos[/i] to stand up and name himself."

Abby shrugged her shoulders helplessly, one eyebrow arched dubiously. "Not a clue if that makes him honest, callous or just batshit crazy, but he's as good a place to start as any. I plan to catch up with him later today, but I'd [i]really[/i] like you there with me. Seriously, if he starts throwing technical jargon at me in that French accent, I'm just going to blank and stand there nodding like a bobblehead doll... "

"Spare me the humiliation of becoming the embodiment of another 'dumb blonde' stereotype, Gavin." Abby graced the doctor with her widest, sweetest smile, a little surprised to discover doing so actually helped lift her spirits, even a little. [i]"Please... ?"[/i]