Not a theory, just wanna share my thoughts:
Honestly after last episode and seeing ep. 8 promo I no longer have a clue who may turn out as Red John, and that kinda makes me sad because until now i was convinced it's going to be Partridge and after what had been shown to us in ep. 7 when Cho "examed" Brett's dead body it would just be too obvious for him to be Red John. Of course Brett a.k.a Red John fans (no offence, I'm among you guys:D) might say that we actually never saw his face, but unfortunately I'm now pretty sure he is really dead. Why? Ok let's start.
Bruno Heller did cheat all of us saying that in the end of first episode he left us a big clue. He really did but it is rather a clue that really became one after this episode when Jane was interrogating that police officer.
PJ: There's a password, too, something you say|as a greeting or a... Distress signal. "Tiger, tiger".
That actually turned out to be that clue. As we now found out the Blake Association is big enough that members don't know each other - they work in groups, and don't know how about you guys but imo, the Blake Association isn't proud of Red John being a member (Smith reacts in a way as he is unhappy because of it). Conclusion: Brett Partridge actually wanted to warn Lisbon and tell her to gtfo of that house but he knew if he just say that Red John is going to kill her so he used "tiger tiger" in hope she is a member, too. Unfortunately he didn't know Red John is a member and didn't expect that he would react.
Why do I think that was the clue?
Because after interview with Heller we all started to look for a possible clue. Some of us tried that stupid 666 theory, some of us hit "pigeons theory" but for me all of this turned out to be Red Herrings so we could spend our time thinking what did we miss.
What does it mean in recent events?
Brett Partridge - dead
Bob Kirkland - dead
Reede Smith - in jail (probably if he's going to survive)
Bret Stiles - no tatoo, simply too old to be RJ
Raymond Haffner - Jane doesn't care about him, he speaks free about RJ near him and he insults Ray, i think Jane wouldn't be stupid enough to provoke RJ again as he know how it end up first time.
Gale Bertram - on the run, just a ordinary member of Blake Association.
Thomas McAllister - it might be him (i think it's the guy running on the promo) but it would be a huuuuuge mistake to reveal RJ identity in just a Promo lol, who does that? We've been waiting for this moment few years....
Conclusion
1. Red John is not on the list and all that we witnessed from episode 5x22 is Jane's deception.
That actually would be a perfect solution because each episode is focused at another "suspect" and each week we all change our theories/thoughts about who might be Red John and we miss the most possible option.
If Red John is someone not from the list i think Walter Mashburn woul be just perfect.
2. Kill me but - Brett Partridge, but honestly im not going to point out why because we all know why.
Just a observation
Did you notice that guy moving Jane's couch, he gave him his coins but he had "FBI" at his suit so how on earth FBI guy would know Jane used to spent 90% of his time at that couch.
Red John must had been present in team Lisbon room and we must have seen that.
And that makes Walter Mashburn 1:0 Brett Partridge.
Cheers
