[Elsie]

But indeed exactly such critters were subsequently found as fossils. So a double jointed jaw PROVES that one of the bones moved into the ear.

Now where is the intermediate critter with this floating bone HALFWAY between it's jaw and it's ear?

[Stultis]

Now where is the intermediate critter with this floating bone HALFWAY between it's jaw and it's ear?

Yeah. There is no such creature.

Apparently you don't savvy how the ear works in reptiles and mammals. There is (and was) already a single ear bone in reptiles -- the stapes -- connecting the inner ear to the jaw. (So reptiles in effect heard, i.e. received sound vibrations, through their jaw.) The stapes was already "halfway" between (and connecting) the jaw and the inner ear.

What happened is that, in the evolution of mammals, additional bones, from the jaw, got incorporated into this linkage. There was never any point where the bones were just floating free and unconnected, nor did they need to move any great distance. Here are some pictures (from this page) that may help:

For completeness here's the side view using the same color codes, and now showing one of the intermediate states:

The pink bone, the reptilian angular, a major jaw bone in reptiles, becomes in mammals the tympanic annulus, the ring of bone that surrounds the ear drum.