Last month, Shelby Bonnie’s iPad vanished from his carry-on bag somewhere at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after a red-eye flight from San Francisco. He figured he would never see it again.

But sometimes our devices aren’t ready to say goodbye.

While Mr. Bonnie, an investment banker with Allen & Company, continued on his way to the Bahamas for a few days of relaxation, his iPad began a strange odyssey of its own, turning Mr. Bonnie into a digital gumshoe and the narrator of a personal thriller that played out on Facebook, to the delight of his online friends.

“I said, ‘I’m definitely going to lose my iPad, but I’m going to have some fun,’” Mr. Bonnie said in a phone interview.

The reason the iPad’s story didn’t end with its disappearance is a location tracking feature on Apple devices called Find My iPhone, which can be used to pinpoint any lost or stolen Apple device, including iPads and Macs.