I think Theory #10369 may have hit the nailhead pointing out that while Brett Partridge will appear in 6x08, Bob Kirkland won't.

Call me crazy, but this can be too good or too bad for the script. On one hand, and just as 10369 says, it could mean that RJ is Partridge, which would be lame, mainly because the classic "specialist on reknown murderer turns out to be the murderer" is a card that has already been played in the show with the San Joaquin Killer.

On the other hand, Partridge could participate in a flashback, most surely in red John's flashback / confession, when he says why he killed him.

So, I think this is very, very important: If Partridge will appear in RJ's confession flashback and Kirkland won't, this can only mean that Kirkland's death wasn't on RJ's account, this meaning he didn't commit it, nor did he order it.

Brett Partridge in 6.08 could mean many things, but to me it is (I hope it is) the proof that RED JOHN and TYGER TYGER are not the same thing, which would reduce the list to 2 suspects now, or even outside the list.

I think it's Haffner. In the end it might not be him at all, but again, what's important of this posts are the previous paragraphs and not the conclussion