diff --git a/lib/orchestrator.js b/lib/orchestrator.js
index d6706b9..3ae9331 100644
--- a/lib/orchestrator.js
+++ b/lib/orchestrator.js
@@ -281,11 +281,15 @@ Orchestrator.prototype.read = function read(fn) {
   if (fn) fn = fn.bind(this);
 
   if (this.pidFile) {
-    fs.readFile(this.pidFile, 'utf-8', function reader(err, pid, cmd) {
-      this.pid = (pid || '').trim();
-
-      if (fn) fn(err, this.pid, cmd);
-    }.bind(this));
+    if (fn) {
+      fs.readFile(this.pidFile, 'utf-8', function reader(err, pid, cmd) {
+        this.pid = (pid || '').trim();
+
+        fn(err, this.pid, cmd);
+      }.bind(this));
+    } else {
+      this.pid = (fs.readFileSync(this.pidFile, 'utf-8') || '').trim();
+    }
     return this;
   }