return empty List in catch block

I have a c# function that reads file locations from a Datatable, and returns a List with all the file lcoations to the calling method.

In the Catch block, I want to return an empty list with a false so teh calling method can cancel it's operation.

But I can't get my return statement to compile.

Would it be better to pass in a list as a refernce, and have the function return a boolean true/false?

here is the code I am trying:

   public static List<string> getEmailAttachments(string emailID, System.Data.DataTable emails)    {        List<string> allAttachments;        //System.Data.DataTable oTbl = new DataTable();        try        {            System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break();            var results = from myRow in emails.AsEnumerable()                          where myRow.Field<string>("itemID") == emailID                          select myRow;            System.Diagnostics.Debug.Print("attachments");            foreach (DataRow myRow in results)            {                System.Diagnostics.Debug.Print(myRow.Field<string>("attachmentsPath"));                allAttachments.Add(myRow.Field<string>("attachmentsPath"));                //DataTable dt = (DataTable)myRow["attachmentsPath"];                //DataTable oTbl = dt.Clone();                //DataRow[] orderRows = dt.Select("CustomerID = 2");                //foreach (DataRow dr in orderRows)                //{                //    oTbl.ImportRow(dr);                //}                // myTable.ImportRow(dr);                //oTbl.Rows.Add(myRow);                //oTbl.ImportRow(myRow);            }            return allAttachments;        }        catch (Exception ex)        {            logBuilder("common.getEmailAttachments", "Exception", "", ex.Message, "");            return new List<string>emptyList(); // cannot compile        }    }