diff --git a/go/storage/volume.go b/go/storage/volume.go
index bd11f48c6..9f16dd638 100644
--- a/go/storage/volume.go
+++ b/go/storage/volume.go
@@ -221,15 +221,16 @@ func (v *Volume) delete(n *Needle) (uint32, error) {
 	//fmt.Println("key", n.Id, "volume offset", nv.Offset, "data_size", n.Size, "cached size", nv.Size)
 	if ok {
 		var err error
+		size := nv.Size
 		if err = v.nm.Delete(n.Id); err != nil {
-			return nv.Size, err
+			return size, err
 		}
 		if _, err = v.dataFile.Seek(0, 2); err != nil {
-			return nv.Size, err
+			return size, err
 		}
 		n.Data = make([]byte, 0)
 		_, err = n.Append(v.dataFile, v.Version())
-		return nv.Size, err
+		return size, err
 	}
 	return 0, nil
 }