Can you get the return value of a thread if it exited before you call join?

Question

If you have a thread A which calls pthread_exit(return_val) before thread B can call pthread_join(A, ret_val_A), what is the outcome? Does join return as if the thread did not exist?

Clarification: Im not asking if you can join once a thread has exited, more so will the return value be valid if it has already exited and you call join after.