diff --git a/src/broker/Manager.cc b/src/broker/Manager.cc
index dff6055e32..7b9d2af591 100644
--- a/src/broker/Manager.cc
+++ b/src/broker/Manager.cc
@@ -2094,13 +2094,15 @@ detail::StoreHandleVal* Manager::MakeClone(const string& name, double resync_int
     }
 
     auto handle = new detail::StoreHandleVal{*result};
-    Ref(handle);
 
     if ( ! handle->proxy.valid() ) {
         reporter->Error("Failed to create clone for data store %s", name.c_str());
+        delete handle;
         return nullptr;
     }
 
+    Ref(handle);
+
     data_stores.emplace(name, handle);
     if ( ! iosource_mgr->RegisterFd(handle->proxy.mailbox().descriptor(), this) )
         reporter->FatalError("Failed to register broker clone mailbox descriptor with iosource_mgr");