In the face of death, humans often cling to life in the form of sexual activity. Sabbath's aging body has been showing his own mortality for many years and Sabbath's response has been to clutch more desperately at his mistress' spreading haunches. Sex with Drenka made him feel alive. In fact, for a man like Sabbath whose entire life is based on sex, sex in the face of death is even more poignant to him. Sex means life and when his wanton mistress Drenka dies of cancer, it is the loss of sex, more than the loss of Drenka, that affects Sabbath and makes him feel like his time is up.
This is how Sabbath justifies pocketing Debby's panties and taking them to Linc's funeral. As Sabbath later explains to Norman, those panties signify.....
