Mr. Poe puts the children under the care of their uncle Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, a reptile expert who goes by Monty. The children get along nicely with their new guardian, who promises to bring them on a trip to Peru with him to study snakes. Things look peachy for the children until Count Olaf disguises as Uncle Monty's assistant Stephano.
Uncle Monty dies. Olaf takes them to a harbor but they get into a car accident. The affected car belongs to none other than Mr. Poe, who doesn't believe that Stephano is Olaf since he doesn't have an ankle tattoo. Olaf's acting assistant, pretending to be a Dr. Lucafont, claims that Uncle Monty died because of the Mamba du Mal. Klaus infers that the evidence doesn't add up — Uncle Monty is pale during his death as opposed to blackened, which is the effect of being poisoned by the Mamba du Mal. Olaf's plan gets foiled and Mr. Poe learns that he had covered up his ankle tattoo with makeup. The villain escapes once more.