I still think it’s Partridge and that his death in the season premiere is a ruse.

It’s like the plot of the book “And Then There Were None” where all of the suspects supposedly died, only to have one of them turn out to be the killer, after they staged their own death.

Bruno Heller has stated that “it was very important that Partridge die at this point in the story.” And I think that is so that he would no longer be a suspect.

The way Partridge died, also does not seem in keeping with a Red John murder. He was found in a closet? No red smiley face to strike terror into the person that finds him before the body is discovered? That’s his classic M.O. and this doesn’t resonate with that.

 Also Partridge is partially alive when Lisbon finds him. Alive enough to quote William Blake. When is the last time Red John left someone half-dead?I think Partridge is Red John, and is working with someone, who helped him stage his own death to cast off suspicion. Bruno Heller stated of the final scene of episode 1 that “embedded in that scene is a big clue to the identity of Red John that will pay off big time later.”If you watch closely. The person who Jane is talking two is different from the person holding the phone, indicating that there are two people there. The person who paints the smiley face on Lisbon is not the real Red John. First, he paints it on her face (huh?), Second, he uses only two fingers instead of three (which both Jane and Partridge would know), finally, he paints the smiley face counter clockwise, not clockwise like in other Red John murders. That is the clue that I think Heller wants to give, but he distracts us with the red herring of the bloody blade.One other clue which may or may not be relevant is the title of the next episode Black Winged Red Bird which refers to a Scarlet Tanager. The Scarlet Tanager is a poem written by James Russell Lowell, a romantic poet like William Blake who wrote “The Tyger” which Red John often quotes as well as painted “A Brace of Partridge.”Far from casting off my suspicion, Partridges apparent death only seals it more for me that he’s Red John. Bruno Heller also said that we would be disappointed when we found out who Red John was, and most people would probably be disappointed if big bad Red John turned out to be Fangoria watching Brett Partridge.