lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm | 5 +++++

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index f3edfe82fc3308b6844ed567cd253e37f6b91f68..97ae2c416cffb89aa31f5b8bea3e314811164d21 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -249,6 +249,11 @@ 	$self->{1}->autoflush(1) if $self->{1};
 	if (my $sock = $self->{sock}) {
 		send($sock, "x_it $code", MSG_EOR);
 	} elsif (!($code & 127)) { # oneshot, ignore signals
+		# don't want to end up using $? from child processes
+		for my $f (qw(lxs l2m)) {
+			my $wq = delete $self->{$f} or next;
+			$wq->DESTROY;
+		}
 		$quit->($code >> 8);
 	}
 }