Coolant leak help needed

I have coolant leaking out of the middle stud of the three studs (on the firewall side) that hold down the water pump and timing cover on a 1996 3.8L. I completed the notorious timing cover gasket repair last March and put in a new water pump and gasket while I had it apart (also completed the lower intake repair and put in new head gaskets two years ago). I even went down to Ford and bought new stud bolts (which came with a white coating on the threads - not sure if it was sealant or anti-sieze). The Haynes and Ford manuals warned of coating the "#1" stud bolt threads with teflon sealant before re-installing it. The Haynes manual seemed to indicate that this #1 stud was the lower left and not the middle one. Should I have also coated the middle one with teflon sealant where the threads enter the block?

I did not use RTV on the gasket which was contrary to one of the manuals. Is it more likely that this is the problem and the leak is at the water pump-to-timing cover interface?

Any help is appreciated.