early in the episode Lisbon had a cast on her right arm, had to shake hands with the officer at the crime scene with her left hand. In the last scene she did not have a cast on her arm, holding both the flashlight and gun. weird....why? she knows more than she is letting on.
A few things to consider:
1. Bret Partridge is dead. For those who think that he is still alive, and mostly likely Red John, you're wrong. He looked like a prime candidate, but this is the Mentalist. No one saw Craig O'Laughlin being a Red John disciple, but it happened. Partridge is down, with six likely suspects remaining. Which leads me to suspect Gale Bertram even more.
Bertram is the director, and can access anything he needs to know. A few reasons I suspect him...
1. In the season 3 finale, when Jane tells him of the meeting with Hightower at the mall, Bertram at first hesitates, and then agrees. As soon as Jane leaves his office, Bertram picks up the phone and calls someone (likely Timothy Carter).
2. He mentions to Jane in the same episode "reaching the end of your rope" leading on to believe he knew the whole setup was a trap. O'Laughlin tells Bertram he was told Hightower would be in room 605, Bertram was told 505. Immediately realizing it's a trap, Bertram sets up one of his own.
3. Back to the present: When Jane and Lisbon encounter Bertram in "The Desert Rose" He is angry about the previous case, and presents two options: agree to a suspension, or take a case far away. Really? Those are the only two options? Bertram knows they'll take the second, gets Partridge out to the desert to meet them, and everything plays out how he wants.
4. Bertram also says "Jane's getting close, or at least thinks he is. Everyone's talking about it." I'm not so sure about this claim; Lisbon and Jane would've heard if people were talking about how close he was. I think this was a mistake made by Bertram, and he acts flustered, which doesn't help. I remember back to when Lorelei shot Jason Lennon, she says to Patrick "Red John's not perfect, he makes mistakes." I think this was another.
5. Lastly I look back to the ending of "The Desert Rose." Lisbon gets a lead, and discovers Partridge is at the scene. This makes sense for anyone who could be Red John. They leave their cell phone at a location, because they know it's bugged, and go to the scene of the crime without it. It would throw Lisbon, who is tracking, and it would be a perfect alibi. Plus why would they need a cell? They know Lisbon will have hers. So Red John arrives, wounds Partridge to the point of death, knowing he will only say "Tyger Tyger" before dying. Lisbon arrives, finds Partridge, and then she is knocked unconscious, while Red John calls Jane from Lisbon's cell. The most likely suspect is Bertram for this, continuing from the reasoning above, and the reason I think he didn't kill Lisbon, was because he knows she can still be of use.
Please let me know what you think. There are a lot of other motives for Bertram, but these seemed to be the biggest.
I think that the hidden clue that Heller talked about has to do with the pidgeons. There were 7 pidgeons initially in that room minus one that flew away. Just like the suspects that came down to 6!
I also personally want to believe that Partridge is dead; it would be a really lame to actually find out that all this was fake....
Guys! When asked why he killed BP Bruno Heller said: "I didn't kill him, RED JOHN did!"
In the past Bruno Heller said: "One of the NAMES is RED JOHN!" He didn't say one of the persons. That could mean BP is just an alias of RED JOHN. And Red John "killed" his Alias. As Red John mentioned before: "I will show you damn clever!"
You know, what Bruno wants to tell us with this. You watch but you don't see! Bruno Heller DID NOT CONFIRM THAT THE PERSON BEHIND BP IS DEAD!!!! ONLY THE NAME BP is gone for good. BECAUSE BP IS ONLY AN ALIAS OF RED JOHN. RED JOHN's real name will be revealed soon.
Did you notice when PJ and "Brett Partridge" were watching the skelleton, "BP" said "who did this to you?" and then looked with duping delight to PJ. I think he didn't say it to the skeleton. It was for Patrick Jane. That is what I will call damn clever! ;o))))
Red John is Patrick Jane
Partridge was an accomplice. That's why he said 'Tyger Tyger'. But he is dead. Bruno Heller said it himself. Brett Partridge is dead. The list is down to 6.
-pay no attention to whom I accused. Not entirely sure on him.
Heres an interview with heller that happened after the premier http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/30/the-mentalist-season-6-premiere-post-mortem/