If you are using the TurboTax desktop CD/Download editions, any tax data files or saved PDF's are normally stored in Documents and in the TurboTax folder.
I question whether this is true. It was true for years 2017 and earlier, when the extensions of these files were either .tax2017 or, going back even further, simply .tax. But I can't find .tax2018 or .tax2019 files, even though I can open them in TurboTax (!). To me it makes no sense. This is how I happened upon this:
I sometimes want to create dummy returns, to see what might happen if input were different. To do this I open up the "real" return and then immediately do a "save as" to a different name. I can see these multiple files in my Documents/Turbotax folder for years prior to 2018. Today I created a dummy file using this method, but I then decided I wanted to delete this dummy file. As far as I can tell you can't delete a file from within Turbotax, so I went to the directory of the C drive to find the data file, where I planned to delete it, and I find that there are NO .tax2019 or .tax2018 files anywhere to be found. (I did a global search.) Can anyone explain what changed in 2018 and where this data is being saved? I know that the file name which appears at the top of the screen in Turbotax shows a .tax2018 or .tax2019 extension but the file can't be found. By the way, I've set my options to show hidden files, so that's not the problem.
I do the same "what if" tax scenarios that you do. Like you, I could not open my 2019 tax file using the CD/Download software. After further searching the internet, I found no solution. Upon further thought I checked my backup flash drive that I use to maintain a backup separate from my laptop. I found the file on the flash drive. I had moved it there from My Documents folder. I don't know if this will help you, but was intrigued by your situation as I had the same issue.