Kazimir

Kazimir, usually called Kaz, is remembered as Bogdan Jankowski’s best friend from the period when Bogdan had just arrived in England. A taxi driver, he became a witness to violence within the criminal world around Tony Curran and Gianni Gunduz. His murder was concealed in the woods, but the story of how he died eventually reached Bogdan—and Kaz’s family received money in his name.

Identity and Background

Bogdan describes Kaz as his best friend when he arrived in England and says Kaz drove a taxi. In recalling him to Stephen, Bogdan remembers him as a hard worker and a nice man, adding that Stephen would have liked him. These details make Kaz more than an unnamed victim in Bogdan’s account: he is presented through ordinary qualities and through the closeness of the friendship that made his loss consequential.

Kaz had seen Tony Curran shoot a young man from London. Bogdan understood the killing to be connected to drugs, but admitted that he never learned the precise reason for it. Tony was in business with Gianni Gunduz, who ran the taxi company, although Tony held the dominant position in their partnership. Kaz’s knowledge therefore placed him near a violent secret involving both men.

Murder in the Woods

Gianni asked Kaz to drive him into the woods because he needed help burying something. The two men dug together; then Gianni shot Kaz and buried him in the hole they had made. The sequence turns Kaz’s willingness to help into the means of his death: the work he undertook as Gianni’s driver and companion prepared his grave.

The killing was not immediately known to Bogdan. He thought Kaz might have run away, perhaps returning home and keeping out of sight. That mistaken belief persisted until Gianni spoke to his friends about shooting a man in the woods and making him do the digging. Gianni treated the act as a boastful anecdote; its careless retelling was what allowed Bogdan to learn what had happened to his friend.

Aftermath and Significance

Bogdan later told Stephen that he sent fifty thousand pounds to Kazimir’s family. The money came from the large sum he and Steve Georgiou took from Gianni’s house after Gianni was killed; Bogdan estimated the total at about one hundred thousand pounds. He gave half to Kaz’s family, linking the discovery of the truth to a material act of support for those Kaz had left behind.

Kaz’s brief presence in the story is defined by the gap between what Bogdan first believed and what he eventually learned. He had not simply disappeared: Gianni had murdered him and hidden his body in the place Kaz helped dig. The revelation gives Bogdan’s recollection its force, while Kaz’s remembered kindness and the money sent to his family resist the reduction of his life to the concealed crime.