Dave-in-Decatur wrote: VZW, I think, will charge for their location services; not sure about Google.

There is no charge for using any of the Location Services on your phone.  You may be thinking of VZ Navigator, which does have a charge.

Dave-in-Decatur wrote: Go to the Play Store (which is what Google calls its Android app store) and search for "phone locator". This will bring up a long list of apps to choose from. Most are free. Be sure to read the features and reviews before installing, to make sure you're getting what you want and that other users find that it works well.

Several antivirus apps have a 'find my phone' feature built in (and a 'remote wipe' feature to remove your data from your phone).