GOOD CATCH...man you're good. I had never picked up on that before...of course, I knew the minute that I heard about that long RN, that it was a fake, and written by one of the parents.. so I never really have studied it.
go back and study it again sometime,if you have the time.it's the most fascinating thing about this case,IMO.I love picking it apart and trying to figure out what their original intentions were,and how they did it.I think Patsy gave that away in DOI when she told how she and JR merged the 2 liturgies into one.(that's the one that contained the words 'and hence').Coincidence? I think not.
Jeff Merrick is clear that he believes he and 2 others were the target of the note,and that JR was trying to set him/them up in it.And JR did indeed try to do just that,right after he found the body,he said 'this had to be an inside job' ..and he kept pointing to Merrick many times,so that ST finally came right out and asked him: Why does John Ramsey keep bringing up your name?
The R's threw a lot of irony into the whole crime,and I think the note was no exception.I think Patsy psychically wrote it,while JR told her what to specifically point to.. I think they thought it would be harder to prove the author as being one of them if they both took part in it.
Things like 'I advise you not to provoke them' I take as JR is supposed to know who they are,but yet...he is not to call them ! (of course not,he helped write the note).
I think they also tried to buy themselves some time with it,what with the 'you will need to be rested' part (meaning stay home),and 'we will call you tomorrow' (this gives them a full 24 hrs to carry out a plan).
I do think they had planned,at first,to get her out of the house,and so the 'you will also be denied her remains for proper burial' line becomes obtuse once they decided to change course,but from the looks of the note,(the crossed out words)...there was no time left to write a new one..that one must stand.(and remember how late the 911 call came in,in accordance with their plans..they were running out of time).The line 'if we monitor you getting the money early' accounts for them being seen outside the house the next morning.
That last part where it switches to John's first name...that really does it for me...he was trying to make it appear to be someone who knew him on a first name basis...as Merrick did.As well as the 'use that good southern common sense of yours' line..Merrick knew him prior to Boulder,when he was in the south.It was just a little trick to throw in to point to him,IMO.
As far as the 'you are not the only fat cat around' (IOW-fear me,fear me!)...I think that was an attempt to say that Merrick himself was trying to appear to be a threat to him,as he'd made a comment in the past that he was going to 'bring John Ramsey down to his knees'.And JR pointed out that JM had made threats about him when he got fired.
In short,I think Merrick and friends were just quick,convenient ppl to point to since they'd been upset with him over his co.,and JR tried to use that to his advantage in the note, in trying to find someone(s) outside the home to pin the murder on.
I think the RN has been overanalyzed to some degree,take it more literally and you can see directly where they were going with this.
I disagree w. Andrew Hodges,in that he even said the note had something to do w. Patsy's cancer;I think that's just taking it too far....a good stretch of the imagination far...they put every word and line in the note to point to someone,as an excuse for something,or to buy themselves some time.