lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
index 018fcb5537676ba6d9548f2c238451d317f8c1cd..1398ea4198432a9f1354f5cc66fe601702c6a454 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ }
 
 sub lookup_mail { # no ghosts!
 	my ($self, $mid) = @_;
-	my $smsg = lookup_message($self, $mid);
+	my $smsg = lookup_message($self, $mid) or return;
 	PublicInbox::SearchMsg->load_doc($smsg->{doc});
 }