diff --git a/src/pygit2/index.c b/src/pygit2/index.c
index b772f58..cc2fd10 100644
--- a/src/pygit2/index.c
+++ b/src/pygit2/index.c
@@ -233,8 +233,8 @@ Index_contains(Index *self, PyObject *value)
         return 0;
     }
     if (idx < 0) {
-        free(path);
         Error_set_str(idx, path);
+        free(path);
         return -1;
     }
     free(path);