Kit Snicket instructs the Baudelaires to masquerade as concierges at Hotel Denouement, where V.F.D. members will be gathering. She asks them to observe whether the elusive J.S. is a villain or volunteer within the organization. (We learn that the V.F.D. stands for Volunteer Fire Department, which has since been split up into two groups of rivals.) The siblings spot Jerome Squalor and Justice Strauss, both of whom believe that they are J.S.
The children encounter Count Olaf, who pushes a gun into their hands, which drops and kills a man named Dewey Denouement. The children and Olaf are tried in court (a sketchy setup since two of the judges turn out to be part of Olaf's troupe). All four escape and the siblings set the hotel on fire to signal to the volunteers that the gathering has been infiltrated by enemies. Olaf and the Baudelaire children get on a boat together.