diff --git a/leveldb.go b/leveldb.go
index 34b8e51..9a3513e 100644
--- a/leveldb.go
+++ b/leveldb.go
@@ -41,10 +41,11 @@ func (ldb *LevelDBBackend) Shutdown() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (ldb *LevelDBBackend) Fetch(hash, key []byte) ([]byte, error) {
+func (ldb *LevelDBBackend) Fetch(hash, key []byte) (value []byte, err error) {
 	ro := leveldb.NewReadOptions()
-	defer ro.Close()
-	return ldb.db.Get(ro, key)
+	value, err = ldb.db.Get(ro, key)
+	ro.Close()
+	return
 }
 
 func (ldb *LevelDBBackend) InTransaction() bool {