You're wondering why Patrick Jane's head is on the front. I am going to attempt explain who Red John is from Patrick's point of view. If I get any greens at all, that'll be some achievement.
Seeing as we're in the mind of Patrick Jane, this may be the most elaborate theory you may ever read... and I fully understand the correlation between the detail of a theory and the number of implausible's it will receive :P
In 5 x 8, Jane discovers he's shaken hands with Red John. Not much later, Jane figures out Red John is Brett Partridge, using Rosalynd Harker's description.
But he can't just go and shoot him. Someone will try and kill him in revenge. So he needs to bring down RJ's network of friends. So he makes a list of people he thinks are associated with Red John from law-enforcement and the cult Visualise. He already knows for certain Bret Stiles and Gale Bertram have been part of his plans. Next Jane uses the prodigious talent for observation he had displayed so frequently in seasons 1-3, to the connect the others to Red John and that is how "the list" was born.
He preempts Red John's next move. Someone is going to bug him or someone close to him to find out about if he knows who he is. Patrick pretends he never heard a description from Rosalynd Harker when he makes his supposed "list". He puts the real Red John onto the list of 7, so Red John knows he's close. According to Patrick's criteria, these are 7 random men that could be at the crime scenes. Yet they are all known to the audience now to have a link to Red John.
When Patrick tells Teresa the list in Red John's Rules, and later that night, RJ's accomplice delivers a video predicting the list, Patrick has got him. He knows Partridge has fallen for his trap and Lisbon is the person who was bugged. He gave her false signals from Red Barn onwards, saying he remembered every person he ever met.
And in the video Red John calls it 'a feat of memory,' confirming, Lisbon is the one who was bugged. For all we know, Patrick could have made that up (although we know he can do it, it might not be necessary). He is playing an elaborate charade. In Desert Rose, Red John keeps Teresa alive because he thinks Lisbon is a valuable source of information.
Then in Desert Rose, Patrick continues to maintain a charade. Black-Winged Redbird, he ignores the woman from Visualise dressed up like Patrick, he says Red John has "acrophobia" instead of acaraphobia on purpose. He is keen to see which suspects are going to fake a fear of heights, and which of them will begin whistling in front of him or Lisbon.
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Then Patrick goes to investigate the "suspects".
GO and rewatch "Red Lacquer Nail Polish." Jane already knows Partridge is Red John then. Then go and rewatch "Desert Rose," Jane knows Partridge is Red John. Patrick who is several steps ahead goes so far as to taunt him "You truly don't know, do you?" Partridge probably thinks Jane does that to everyone on the list.
Bertram calls himself duplicitous and calculating and he is very intent on catching Red John. This confuses Patrick. Then he sees a meeting of 3 suspects. When they don't respond to his "bugged...wired" suggestion, he knows they don't know who Red John is.
Sherriff McAllister saves his life after feigning a fear of heights. Patrick says to him "One of my many flaws is that I sometimes give mixed signals."
Bertram repeatedly reminds Patrick he wants to catch Red John.
When Reede Smith says its going to be "Jurisdictional clusterbomb," and says "No hard feelings to Jane," Jane begins to suspect everyone in the meeting was an undercover agent who work for Homeland Agent, Bob Kirkland, who is hunting Red John just like him.
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One day, Partridge is getting a bit bored. He knows he controls all the suspects, so he decides to play a little game with Patrick. What Partridge doesn't know is that he's once again falling into Jane's hands. Partridge thinks: "I'll give him a clue, I'll show him the Tyger Tyger tattoo. He'll go round shooting them all ahahaha, it will be like Timothy Carter 2.0. Man I'm such a genius. *talking to his pigeons*"
Once Patrick sees the tattoo, he goes and tells Lisbon straight away. Patrick, who guards intel on RJ so closely, just goes and makes a show in front of her. So Red John hears of course. He knows 3 of the suspects, who have the tattoo, will be good. But what he desperately needs is for Stiles and Haffner to attend. Stiles is the source of RJ's accomplices.
Well, next episode, Haffner and Stiles are both taken care off. And McAllister too. Whether they're dead or kidnapped it doesn't matter. STILES is out of the way. Reede Smith and Gale Bertram are on the run, and Patrick isn't terribly harmed. It's basically impossible for me to predict what happens next... but what Patrick would want is for Tyger Tyger to be completely exposed. The Visualise link is dead. Bret Stiles and Haffner are taken care of. So, I expect the next phase would be Red John's Tyger Tyger link.
Then Patrick can go and kill Red John in the park, once he has truly destroyed him in this final game of mental chess. Patrick was many steps ahead for a long, long time. The risk of revenge is so much is smaller now Visualise and Tyger Tyger have loose links to Red John.
