call a locally designated variable

I need to call a variable that is empty, but how do I do it? I created the following code

public ActionResult Index()
{
     cliente cliente;
            try
            {
                 cliente = db.cliente.find(id);
                //etc
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                var GravaLogErro = new ErroDotNet
                {

                    IDC = cliente != null ? cliente.ClienteId : 0
[Ele fala: User of unasigned local variable 'cliente']
                };
                GravaLogErro.GravarLog();

            }

I did not want to put the client.find out of try / catch until I summarized the logic well, why can not I do a check if it is null? Okay, would I create her like this?

cliente cliente = new cliente();

Would not give problem in find ()?