Make no mistake, the new clue revealed at the end of this Sunday’s The Mentalist was an ink-redible development with regards to the hunt for Red John.

As this week’s hour of the CBS drama came to a close, Jane learned from a pretty private eye (guest star Beth Riesgraf) who was hired by — and ultimately stabbed by — Red John that her employer has a tattoo of three dots on his shoulder.

And lest you question that reveal as perhaps a piece of misdirection, executive producer Eoghan Mahony, who wrote the episode “The Red Tattoo,” assures TVLine, “That is a legit clue, and it is a big deal. Now Jane’s got his leverage.”

Yes, but short of inviting the remaining suspects into a Turkish bath, how will Jane possibly get eyes on each of their bared shoulders? “That is the next step: Now that you know that information, how do you use it in a useful way?” says Mahony. For that answer, “You’re just going to have to watch the next episode,” he teases, “but you’re going to enjoy it a lot. Jane’s going to tell the team what he’s found, and they’re going to ask exactly that: How do we figure out [who has the tattoo]? But luckily you’ve got Patrick Jane to find the best way to make that work.”

Also of note in this week’s episode: Just as it was suggested that possi-John Sheriff McAllister is afraid of heights (but isn’t) and pigeons (he possibly is), we now know that Ray Haffner gets squirrely around spiders. But whether any of these disclosures synch up with the fact that RJ has a phobia remains to be seen.

Explaining the decision to scatter these bits of intel across recent weeks, Mahony reminds, “Whoever Red John is, we know that he is an incredibly brilliant mind. He’s a psychopath but a brilliant one, so he’s not to going to be easy to find. So how can we, using what tiny crumbs of information we have, force him out into the open? We saw that McAllister might have a fear of heights but clearly he doesn’t. And if you throw a bird into my face I’m probably going to scream, so is that reaction a phobia or just a reaction to having a bird fly in your face? That’s the challenge Jane and the team are faced with.”

Regardless of Jane’s specific next move, it will involve all of the remaining suspects, as Michael Gaston, Malcolm McDowell, Drew Powell, Reed Diamond and Xander Berkeley are set to appear in next Sunday’s episode (playing Gale Bertram, Bret Stiles, Reede Smith, Ray Haffner and Sheriff McAllister).

That episode, titled “Fire & Brimstone” and penned by Ken Woodruff, “moves the story forward in a way that going to be both surprising and will keep you on the edge of your seat,” Mahony promises. “It’s a good one.”

Red John struck again on Sunday's episode of The Mentalist — and Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) got another major clue as to his identity.

Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) once again find themselves working a case with one of Jane's seven five Red John suspects. This time, it's the smug Ray Haffner (Reed Diamond), who joins forces with CBI after a prominent member of the Visualize cult (of which Haffner is a member) is murdered. Turns out the victim, a gymnastics champion, was a killer himself — and died as he was trying to cover up murdering a former student with whom he had been having an affair.

By the end of the episode, we learn that Visualize hired a private investigator to become friendly with Cho (Tim Kang) and plant a bug on his desk in CBI. However, Jane figures it out and surreptitiously re-plants the bug on her. But when Visualize's second-in-command, Jason Cooper (Robert Picardo), knows nothing about the bug, Jane realizes that it's actually Red John who hired the PI — who's either working with Red John or is his next victim. It's option 2. Red John (clearly someone the investigator recognizes) goes to her apartment and kills her moments before Jane and Lisbon arrive on the scene. Before she dies, she gives Jane a key clue about Red John: he has a tattoo of three dots on his left shoulder.

TVGuide.com turned to Eoghan Mahoney, who wrote "The Red Tattoo," to weigh in on tonight's episode and the latest developments in the Red John case. Plus: What are his thoughts on those conspiracy theories about Grace Van Pelt's (Amanda Righetti) possible involvement? Read our interview to find out:

This episode teases a connection between Red John and Visualize.
Mahoney: Because [Haffner] is a member of Visualize, by his very presence he also sort of brings the specter, the shadow, of Bret Stiles (Malcolm McDowell) along with him. So you have this effect of, either he's Red John, or is he like John the Baptist, the one who sort of comes before Red John? Is this Red John or is this just this tool of Red John that is showing up to sort of throw Jane off? Who's the puppet master behind it? Is Bret Stiles doing all this to sort of screw with Jane's head even more than he has in the past? And Robert Picardo, who plays Jason Cooper ... does a really nice job. We don't have Malcolm McDowell in this episode, but there's something about Jason, who I think does a really nice version of saying, "There's something coming, and it's making me nervous."

Is Haffner working with CBI a case of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"?
Mahoney: That's exactly what we [wanted]. I think that's what Jane is sort of confronted with. In the past, certainly when he went up to Napa, it was really an act of Jane saying, "I want to take a case that's going to get me up there so that I can start looking at McAllister.' But in this case, you're investigating a case that's a mysterious case to begin with, and then suddenly there's Ray Haffner in the room. It's this feeling of, are we being watched? Is this case being thrown in front of us so that somebody can be observing and manipulating us? Which is a disconcerting thing for Jane to be confronting, and I think adds to this growing sense of tension and anxiety about what's happening in the world around us.

At one point, Haffner tells Jane there's a "comeuppance" heading his way and makes reference to the fact that he has friends in CBI. Can this be seen as an allusion to the "Tiger Tiger" conspiracy that was teased in last week's episode?
Mahoney: Yes, I think that's exactly right. Ray Haffner is a guy who used to work in CBI. He's a guy who has connections all through law enforcement. We're giving the audience information that our team might not have yet. The team takes this as, is this a Red John threat? Is this a Visualize threat? But I think you're exactly right, and I think the audience hopefully is going to pick that up. What Haffner's talking about is there's chatter in the world of police. A lot of people have this sense that there is a secret society out there. And there are rumors that Jane has really pissed those people off, and that's a dangerous thing to have done.

What's his motivation in warning Jane and Lisbon of bad things to come?
Mahoney: It's important to remember that Ray Haffner has not had a particularly pleasant experience with Patrick Jane. [Laughs] And while Ray Haffner really does have a genuine fondness for Teresa Lisbon, Patrick Jane to him is just a nightmare. He's the guy who screwed up Haffner's chances of sort of moving up in the CBI. To some extent, I suspect [Jane is] part of Haffner's motivation for leaving CBI. Jane is that guy who's just always one step ahead. For Haffner, throughout this episode, he's very happy with the idea that there's a case that Jane seems to be stumped by. Unfortunately for him, of course that turns out not to be the case. But essentially when he's saying to him, "You've got a comeuppance coming," he devoutly wishes that to be true. And from the rumors he's heard, he's pretty confident that that's going to happen.

With the "Tiger Tiger" conspiracy in mind, to what extent is Red John working alone at this point?
Mahoney: That is a mystery that the team is confronted with, and I think Jane is going to sense clearly that there's the threat of Red John, and then there's this other threat. Is this Red John, or is this an entirely separate other thing? Are they connected? If they are connected, how? Certainly we've heard Red John say "Tiger Tiger" to Jane personally. But again, is that Red John just screwing with Jane? Is that giving him clues that are helpful, because why would he do that? Or is it giving him clues that are going to lead Jane into traps? I think that's one of the things that Jane now has to figure out. He's putting together all these clues that he's got, but which ones are the ones that he can trust? What's the direction that he should be heading in, and where are the traps that Red John is leaving for him?

Elsewhere in the episode, newlywed Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) tells Cho he's the happiest he's ever been. Is that an ominous statement, or are we just being pessimistic?
Mahoney: [Laughs] It is always dangerous in this world to start thinking that you're very happy. At the moment, they are really happy. But what tomorrow brings, we aren't allowed to know that.

A lot of viewers are suspicious of Van Pelt. Is that justified?
Mahoney: The audience is right that Grace Van Pelt has gone through some dark times in the past. But I think that they should look at Grace and Wayne as two people who are really happy. They've finally come to that place that's been sort of denied them for a really long time. And being there is as blissful as they could have hoped. But unfortunately, there seem to be gathering shadows and dark clouds around them.

While Jane's busy with Visualize, Rigsby is starting to see red flags around Bob Kirkland's death. Will that be revisited in future episodes?
Mahoney: The team is being given information about the death of Bob Kirkland (Kevin Corrigan) that is leading them in a direction where they're realizing that things don't seem to be adding up the way they should. In the next few weeks, we will learn even more about that.

From IMDB supposedly from TV Guide week of Nov 17th, Nov 24th:

"The emotions are high, the mood while shooting the reveal and death of Red John (airing Nov 17) was strange and discombobulating," says creator and exec producer Bruno Heller. “There were a lot of hugs when it was over, and a champagne toast. It was really quite moving because, in a way, it felt like we were killing off an old family friend. Red John has paid for a lot of Mortgages."

The actor playing him says he was 'stunned and flattered' when he learned that his character - one of seven final suspects - was the shows big bad. "Earning this little place in pop culture history was the last thing I ever expected," he admits, "truth be told, I thought I was a red herring."

Where do we go from here? The end of the Red John saga is a “rebirth for The Mentalist, a chance to go in a new, fresh direction," says Heller, who in the November 24 episode will move the series two years into the future, where Jane is a wanted man hiding out in South America and his old CBI cronies are holding down new jobs.

"There’s been a thorough house cleaning in California Law enforcement as a result of the vast conspiracy led by Red John." says Heller. "Ghosts from the past will continue to play a part in the show, but it’s definitely a brighter day. At first, Jane wants nothing more to do with crime solving, but - like Michael Corleone in the Godfather - he’s pulled back in."

Will getting revenge help Jane deal with his grief? Can he now move on with his life and maybe even find love again… perhaps with Robin Tunney’s character, Teresa Lisbon? “Whenever I meet fans of the show, they don’t seem to care who Red John is,” Says Tunney with a laugh, “All they want to know is. “Will Jane and Lisbon ever get together?” Tunney doesn’t see that happening. ” Jane is a adorable and brilliant but a completely frustrating jerk. Their relationship is a love story. But I don’t think Lisbon would ever have the courage to act on it.”

Would Jane? “When we pick back up, you see he really misses Lisbon and is a sad, floundering shadow of a man,” Says Baker, who will direct the time-jump episode. “He’s completely lost his mojo.”

But mojo - like a job busting bad guys- is something you can always get back. “We’re going to have some fun by putting Jane into an entirely different work environment,” Baker says ” He’ll not only find his spark again, he’ll have a whole lot of new people to rub the wrong way."

Someone also wrote that Lisbon is a small town police chief in Washington, Rigsby and Van Pelt have two kids and run a detective agency and Cho is with the FBI.