diff --git a/flaskpages/__init__.py b/flaskpages/__init__.py
index 7e8d6a0..a98e11f 100644
--- a/flaskpages/__init__.py
+++ b/flaskpages/__init__.py
@@ -10,9 +10,10 @@ def create_app(test_config=None):
     app.config.from_mapping(
         # a default secret that should be overridden by instance config
         SECRET_KEY="dev", 
-        URL_PREFIX = "/"
-    )
+        URL_PREFIX = "/",
 
+    )
+    
     if not test_config:
         # load the instance config, if it exists, when not testing
         app.config.from_pyfile("cfg.py")
diff --git a/flaskpages/pages.py b/flaskpages/pages.py
index e0834e7..d5a58f2 100644
--- a/flaskpages/pages.py
+++ b/flaskpages/pages.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 
-from flask import Flask, Blueprint,render_template, send_from_directory,jsonify, url_for
+from flask import Flask, Blueprint,render_template, send_from_directory,jsonify, url_for, abort
 from flatpages_index import FlatPagesIndex
 import flatpages_index
 import os 
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ def create_bp(app):
     def thumb(size=64,name=''):
         pass
 
+    
     @page_blueprint.route('/<path:name>/')
     @page_blueprint.route('/')
     def page(name='index'):
@@ -32,12 +33,19 @@ def create_bp(app):
             page.links.endpoint='pages.page'
             return render_template(page["template"], post=page,
                                 pth=page["dirpath"])
-
-        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(app.config['FLATPAGES_ROOT'],name)):
-            return send_from_directory(app.config['FLATPAGES_ROOT'],name)
-        else:
-            return send_from_directory('static',name)
-
+        app.logger.debug(f"delivering static file: {name}")
+        
+        # search different loctions for static file 
+        paths = [ app.config['FLATPAGES_ROOT'], 
+                  os.path.abspath(app.config['STATIC_ROOT'])
+                  ]
+        
+        for p in paths:
+            if os.path.exists(os.path.join(p,name)):
+                return send_from_directory(p,name)
+        app.logger.debug(f"Static file {name} not found in : {paths}")
+        return abort(404)
+            
 
     @page_blueprint.route('/<path:name>.json',strict_slashes=False)
     def pagejson(name='index'):
@@ -48,10 +56,16 @@ def create_bp(app):
     #        page.links.file_url=lambda n: url_for('intern.post', name=n)
             return jsonify(page=dict(page))
         
-        if os.path.exists(u'{}/{}'.format(app.config['FLATPAGES_ROOT'],path)):
-            return send_from_directory(app.config['FLATPAGES_ROOT'],path)
-        else:
-            return send_from_directory('static',path)
+        # search different loctions for static file 
+        paths = [ app.config['FLATPAGES_ROOT'], 
+                  os.path.abspath(app.config['STATIC_ROOT'])
+                  ]
+        
+        for p in paths:
+            if os.path.exists(os.path.join(p,name)):
+                return send_from_directory(p,name)
+        app.logger.debug(f"Static file {name} not found in : {paths}")
+        return abort(404)
     return page_blueprint
 
     
\ No newline at end of file