diff --git a/lib/Daemon.pm b/lib/Daemon.pm
index 28664693..75acaf78 100644
--- a/lib/Daemon.pm
+++ b/lib/Daemon.pm
@@ -125,8 +125,15 @@ sub check_PID_file {
    PTDEBUG && _d('Checking PID file', $PID_file);
    if ( $PID_file && -f $PID_file ) {
       my $pid;
-      eval { chomp($pid = slurp_file($PID_file)); };
-      die "Cannot cat $PID_file: $OS_ERROR" if $EVAL_ERROR;
+      eval {
+         chomp($pid = (slurp_file($PID_file) || ''));
+      };
+      if ( $EVAL_ERROR ) {
+         # Be safe and die if we can't check that a process is
+         # or is not already running.
+         die "The PID file $PID_file already exists but it cannot be read: "
+            . $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       PTDEBUG && _d('PID file exists; it contains PID', $pid);
       if ( $pid ) {
          my $pid_is_alive = kill 0, $pid;
@@ -223,7 +230,8 @@ sub DESTROY {
 
 sub slurp_file {
    my ($file) = @_;
-   open my $fh, "<", $file or die "Couldn't slurp file: $!";
+   return unless $file;
+   open my $fh, "<", $file or die "Cannot open $file: $OS_ERROR";
    return do { local $/; <$fh> };
 }
 
diff --git a/t/lib/Daemon.t b/t/lib/Daemon.t
index 4e2f2ca2..2fbd0f5b 100644
--- a/t/lib/Daemon.t
+++ b/t/lib/Daemon.t
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ BEGIN {
 use strict;
 use warnings FATAL => 'all';
 use English qw(-no_match_vars);
-use Test::More tests => 22;
+use Test::More;
 use Time::HiRes qw(sleep);
 use File::Temp qw( tempfile );
 use Daemon;
@@ -106,8 +106,8 @@ unlike(
 # ##########################################################################
 rm_tmp_files();
 SKIP: {
-   skip 'No /proc', 1 unless -d '/proc';
-   skip 'No fd in /proc', 1 unless -l "/proc/$PID/0" || -l "/proc/$PID/fd/0";
+   skip 'No /proc', 2 unless -d '/proc';
+   skip 'No fd in /proc', 2 unless -l "/proc/$PID/0" || -l "/proc/$PID/fd/0";
 
    system("$cmd 5 --daemonize --pid $pid_file --log $log_file");
    PerconaTest::wait_for_files($pid_file);
@@ -253,11 +253,11 @@ ok(
       'Dies if PID file already exists for non-daemon'
    );
 
-   `rm -rf /tmp/d2.pid`;
+   diag(`rm -rf /tmp/d2.pid >/dev/null`);
 }
 
 # #############################################################################
 # Done.
 # #############################################################################
 rm_tmp_files();
-exit;
+done_testing;