First of all: I'm not saying that Lorelei is Red John.
I wrote this theory just to ask you a question:
ARE WE SURE LORELEI IS DEAD?
I know what you could be thinking, "of course she's dead, we saw her! if not, who was her? A secret twin sister?"
I must say, generally I don't like when a fiction "resurrects" a character through some sort of trick; it was pretty corny if the trick is a twin popped out of thin air.
But The Mentalist could just about manage it: Dana Martins admitted that she had sold Miranda, the youngest daughter, but we know that Miranda was killed and, moreover, she wasn't Lorelei's twin. But maybe that wasn't an isolated case. Maybe Lorelei also had a twin sister who has met the same fate. I repeat, it's a bit 'corny, but who knows.
I don't know what will be the trick, if it was a twin or a double or whatever. But I have a strong feeling that Lorelei is still alive and that was John's trick! He has not recorded the video before killing Lorelei; he recorded it after her supposed death, and after being able to spy on Patrick's investigation.
Why I think she's alive? I'll show you right now!
Look at Lorelei's dead body (5x16), then look at her video message from Red John to Patrick (5x22).
Did you notice? I found two differences:
1) in the video Lorelei was beaten by John and she has a bruised eye. "Two weeks later" her corpse's face is clean.
2) this is crucial: in the video her left arm is bandaged. Instead at the crime scene "Her" body's arm is not. And, by the way, there wasn't a mosquito bite under the bandage, there was a bullet wound. We could think it's a blooper, but if we look back, it would seem a deliberate choice by the authors:
1 - Lorelei is wound in the arm by an agent (5x16, min. 24:26);
2 - Lorelei tortures Jason Lennon and her arm is bandaged (5x16, min. 33:28)
3 - Lorelei is beaten by John and she reads the message; the arm is still bandaged (5x22, min. 39:46)
4 - "two weeks later" it's found the dead body of "Lorelei" with no bruises and no wound in the arm (5x16, min. 41:32)
I think that was a detail to make us realize that it wasn't the real Lorelei; Lorelei is not Wolverine and she can't recover from a bullet wound in two weeks. The real Lorelei is still alive.
And the authors could have given us another clue. Go to the min. 41:17 of the episode 5x16 and freeze it:
Did you see it? - How I love it keeping you on your toes, hahaha! - a poster about a freak ("four legged woman") has been placed at the crime scene. But why is it there? Because on that poster it also stands out another word: "ALIVE"!
If so, then Lorelei is being held captive by John and the video was shot after her supposed death. Meanwhile, John was able to spy on Patrick's list to find out the names and to narrow it to the seven suspects. Obviously, the first name that comes to mind is Kirkland. It could be!
I persist to believe that Kirkland is a Red John's rival, but who knows, maybe I'm wrong!
But there is another possibility: When Lorelei's body was found, Lisbon knocked on Patrick's door. He realizes what has happened and he was visibly upset. That's why, when he left the room, he left the lock inside, open: anybody could have entered the room.
