diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper.cc
index 45ed696a..b1157125 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper.cc
@@ -68,30 +68,25 @@ QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper::resolveNamedDest(QPDFObjectHandle name)
     QPDFObjectHandle result;
     if (name.isName()) {
         if (!m->dest_dict.isInitialized()) {
-            m->dest_dict = this->qpdf.getRoot().getKey("/Dests");
-        }
-        if (m->dest_dict.isDictionary()) {
-            QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper name named dest");
-            result = m->dest_dict.getKey(name.getName());
+            m->dest_dict = qpdf.getRoot().getKey("/Dests");
         }
+        QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper name named dest");
+        result=  m->dest_dict.getKeyIfDict(name.getName());
     } else if (name.isString()) {
-        if (nullptr == m->names_dest) {
-            QPDFObjectHandle names = this->qpdf.getRoot().getKey("/Names");
-            if (names.isDictionary()) {
-                QPDFObjectHandle dests = names.getKey("/Dests");
-                if (dests.isDictionary()) {
-                    m->names_dest = std::make_shared<QPDFNameTreeObjectHelper>(dests, this->qpdf);
-                }
+        if (!m->names_dest) {
+            auto dests = qpdf.getRoot().getKey("/Names").getKeyIfDict("/Dests");
+            if (dests.isDictionary()) {
+                m->names_dest = std::make_shared<QPDFNameTreeObjectHelper>(dests, qpdf);
             }
         }
-        if (m->names_dest.get()) {
+        if (m->names_dest) {
             if (m->names_dest->findObject(name.getUTF8Value(), result)) {
                 QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper string named dest");
             }
         }
     }
     if (!result.isInitialized()) {
-        result = QPDFObjectHandle::newNull();
+        return QPDFObjectHandle::newNull();
     }
     return result;
 }