diff --git a/verify/test.sh b/verify/test.sh
index 403cc2e..9ff64ce 100755
--- a/verify/test.sh
+++ b/verify/test.sh
@@ -30,15 +30,19 @@ EOM
 mv .sops.yaml.tmp .sops.yaml
 
 # TEST
+set -x
 # define "fixture"
 repo_root="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
 >&2 echo -e "# ---\n# TEST: create sops cfg in default dir: ${repo_root}"
-rm "${PWD}/.sops.yaml"
+set -x
+rm "${PWD}/.sops.yaml" || :
 # note: fail if for any reason sops config defined at top level; this repo should not have this!
-test -e "${repo_root}/.sops.yaml"
+test ! -e "${repo_root}/.sops.yaml"
 ../bin/update_sops.sh -s "${secrets_file}"
 test ! -e "${PWD}/.sops.yaml"
 test -e "${repo_root}/.sops.yaml"
+set +x
+echo "TEST RC: $?"
 # teardown
 # enmesh: restore, since this particular one is checked in
 git checkout "${PWD}/.sops.yaml"