‘Ladies, ladies,’ said Lars, with a twinkle in his humorous blue eyes. ‘There is no need for this. I told you that you needed me on this trip, and this is why. May I see your phone, Poppy?’

‘Yeah, sure.’ Poppy gave Bella a look that seemed to say, No, I’m none the wiser, either, delved into her handbag and handed the phone to Lars.

‘iPhone, huh?’

‘Yup. Oh, come on, Lars, this is hardly the time for a Steve Jobs eulogy.’

Lars laughed. ‘No, but I think Damian has an iPhone also, huh?’

Poppy looked up at him, intrigued.

‘Yup. Why, you inscrutable Viking?’

‘Do you think he will have turned off his GPS?’

‘Well, he’s turned his phone off, but … no, he probably doesn’t even know what his GPS is.’

‘Him and me both,’ said Bella. ‘What is GPS, and do I have it?’

‘What phone do you have?’ Lars asked, smiling.

‘An iPhone, of course!’ Bella was glad she’d upgraded from her crappy old Nokia a few months ago; she could be one of the cool gang now.

‘Well, then you do have it.’ Lars smiled at her again and turned to Poppy. ‘I know that Damian has not turned off his GPS. How do I know? Because I, also, have an iPhone. When he told me that he was planning to “find himself” on the road, I – uh – took the opportunity to change the settings on his phone …’

‘You did what?’ Poppy was looking at him in amazement.

‘Yes, I took my chance when I went to fetch it from the Gansevoort; I figured it may be useful. Now, whenever he turns his phone on, I can see, on my phone, where he is … GoogleMaps …’

Poppy and Bella looked at each other, grinning broadly.

Lars continued, ‘It is true that most of the time he keeps his phone switched off, but he has been turning it on two or three times every day …’

‘So you know where he is?’ Poppy asked, excitedly.

‘I sure do know, kiddo, and it looks like you were right.’ Lars smiled at her. ‘So far – Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Columbus – I’d say he was halfway to Indianapolis now …’

‘Yessss!’ Poppy slammed her hand triumphantly down onto the sticky plastic-topped table. ‘Didn’t I tell you I knew my husband?’ This was directed at Bella.

‘Yeah, well, I’m more inclined to believe in the wonders of modern technology than one of your mad hunches, but— bloody hell, Lars, this is absolutely brilliant.’

‘My friend Damian has very strange tastes,’ mused Lars.

‘Oh, cheers,’ said Poppy.

‘No, no, I did not mean like that. But this route through the Midwest, it is probably the most boring part of the United States. If he had taken the proper route, down through the Great Lakes, then we should have seen some spectacular countryside …’

‘That’s hardly the point, is it?’ Poppy said mock-sternly, before bursting into peals of laughter. ‘Oh, Lars, I could kiss you!’ she added, and then promptly did, jumping to her dainty little feet and running round to the other side of the table to fling her arms around Lars and plant a gigantic smacker on his cheek. Was it Bella’s imagination, or was Lars blushing?