This is not so much a theory as it is a couple of questions.  I just re-watched Strawberries & Cream II (Where Patrick Jane shoots the Red John imposter, Timothy Carter).  A couple of things struck me:

1) Jane never told anyone outside of the team that he was taking Bertram to that mall to confront him about being Red John.  For all we know, he only told Rigsby and Cho.  Even Bertram did not know ahead of time where they were going.

2) The "assassin" was not just going to kill Hightower - she brought along instruments of torture.  She did NOT simply want to kill Hightower.  Either she was instructed to get information from Hightower or to abduct Hightower - not just kill her.

3)We do NOT know that the "assassin" was only heading down to room 505 (the room number given to O'Laughlin.  That rope might have reached at least a couple of floors lower.

4) We now know that there is an organization within law enforcement, spanning several agencies, that is interested in Red John or perhaps even associated or even led by him.  We knos that Bertram is part of that organization.  Might O'Laughlin have been part of that organization as well?  Might that organization have been more interested in killing Hightower than torturing or abducting her?  Is Hightower a member of that organization so she needed to be disposed of since they might have feared her spilling about the entire organization?

It just seems that, in a series like this, where nothing can be taken at face value (or rather everything must be taken at ONLY face value), a lot of people jump to conclusions that are not necessarily established by the facts that we actually see.

Please comment with your opinion