Dollars and Cents , also known as Countdown to Disaster, is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Union Club series, it was first published in the January 1982 issue of Gallery magazine. It was later collected in The Union Club Mysteries and The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov.
Summary[]
At the Union Club, Griswold recounts a case involving a serial bomber in New York City. The perpetrator began by sending anonymous letters to newspapers, claiming to have placed a dummy bomb in a specific hotel room. Police Lieutenant Cassidy investigated, finding boxes labeled "BOMB" filled with harmless materials. The letters, typed on an IBM electric typewriter, revealed the bomber was motivated by a hatred of a "money-mad society."
After hotels tightened security, the bomber grew more irritable in his letters. The situation escalated when he phoned the police directly, announcing he had placed a real bomb set to detonate at 5 p.m. in a new Manhattan hotel. He refused to give the room number, claiming he only wanted to destroy property, not harm people. Under pressure from Cassidy, the bomber finally said, "Dollars and cents... If you're too dumb to understand that, then I'm not responsible," and hung up.
Griswold, listening in, interpreted this as a clue. He reasoned that as an expert typist, the bomber thought in terms of keyboard keys. The phrase "dollars and cents" is represented by the symbols $ and ¢. On an IBM typewriter, these symbols are produced by pressing the keys for the numbers 4, 7, and 6 while holding the shift key. Griswold deduced the room number was 476. The bomb squad was directed to that room, found and dismantled the real bomb, and averted a disaster. The bomber was never caught but never struck again.
Characters[]
- Griswold
- Club Member (the narrator)
- Jennings
- Baranov
- Lieutenant Cassidy
- The Bomber
- The Reporters
- The Police Officer
- The Hotel Cleaning Women
- The Bomb Squad
- The Hotel Official
- The Police Psychologists
- The Fairfield Liberation Committee (FLC) (a hypothetical example used by Jennings)